Little Miss No-Name
by Talyn Roegner
Summary: A new girl has entered the elite private school of Ouran Academy. She is known not by her real name, but a nickname the other students have given her- Mystique. What happens when she shows interest in the infamous host club? Or perhaps the better question is what happens when the host club shows interest in her?
1. Welcome

"Only those with excellent social standing and those from filthy rich families are lucky enough to spend their time here, at the elite private school, Ouran Academy. The Ouran Host Club is where the school's handsomest boys with too much time on their hands entertain young ladies who also have way too much time on their hands. Just think of it as Ouran Academy's elegant playground for the super rich and beautiful."  
Everyone in the school has no doubt heard the speech from Tamaki, the Ouran Host King. But only those who are interested really care to listen. Usually, they are fangirls who would like nothing better than to than to waste away their days staring mindlessly at their boy-idols in the club room. And the club members willingly take them in... as long as they pay for their time, of course. Flirting with girls, getting their hopes up, and acting as if they have a chance. But there are the very select few in the school who don't bother to pay any attention to them.  
One of those select few isn't exactly one that the hosts complain about not having the business of. If she came, there was more than a slight chance that they would lose more than half of their business for the day. Besides, almost nobody ever dared approach the girl out of fear. She was, to put it simply, rumored to be rather distant and cold. Some were brave enough to try and ask her something, but all they were met with was a blank stare and silence. It had been said that if one was to stare into her eyes for too long, they would be met with bad luck for a week. So, even though she had not yet gone to the school for very long, she had quite the reputation around the school as someone you did _not_ want to get close to. Something about her, though, made a certain person/group of people ever the more curious about her.


	2. The Twins' New Mission

"Hey, leave my little girl alone, you shady twins!"  
"Who are _you_ to call _us_ shady, boss?"  
It was just a normal day of chaos in the club room. The members were all doing basically nothing on one of their days off, bored to death without any of their guests around to mess with. So, naturally, the twins were messing with their "toy", Haruhi. Haruhi was, as per usual, feeling incredibly annoyed at their antics, while Tamaki was trying to get them to leave her alone. Honey was stuffing his face with cake, Mori watching him all the while, and Kyoya was typing away at his laptop. Yes, it was completely normal by any one of their standards concerning each other.  
Tamaki's face got incredibly red and he just started yelling at the redheaded twins even louder. Haruhi only sighed and pulled herself away from between the twins' arms.  
"Guys, just leave me alone. I have to go back home to do some grocery shopping, anyway..." she grumbled, walking over to one of the tables to get her bag from off a chair. The host king stopped short, right in the middle of his rant, and ran up to her almost frantically. Scratch that, it was normal for him to be frantic, so let's say it was frantic. He was soon followed by the twins, and all three of them made a sort of host-wall that blocked her from escaping. As she turned, she rolled her eyes and tried to move away.  
"Let me leave, guys. I have to go before the market closes. There's a major sale going on today!"  
"Again?"  
"Wasn't there a sale last week too?"  
"And didn't you go to that one? Why are you having to go again?"  
Haruhi just scoffed a bit and pushed past them.  
"The market almost always has some kind of sale going on, but this one is a pretty big one. And besides, it was so nice being able to eat meals last week, that I thought I might want to try it again this week. You have to remember that unlike you guys, people like me actually have to go out shopping for ourselves. And with my dad working, it's my responsibility to shop for stuff. You guys are just going to have to find some other means of entertainment, because I am going out. _Alone_."  
She went out the doors, leaving the other club members behind to go to her "commoner's supermarket". The twins automatically started pouting out of boredom, trying to think of something more entertaining to do. Tamaki had made himself busy messing with Kyoya, bugging him and making it almost impossible to do any of his business on the laptop.  
"Tamaki, I realize that without Haruhi here, you need to have something else to do, but I would much rather you go mess with someone else. I have club management obligations at the moment, so why don't you go play a game with the twins or find some poor girl to mess with?"  
"Like who? The club isn't open, so all the regulars already have things going on..."  
The twins, who were eavesdropping couldn't help but overhear, slowly began to smirk at each other as an idea began to form in their minds. They had _just_ the person in mind for him to try to talk to. What was life with a bit of fun and messing with other people? They slyly slid over to Tamaki, one on either side of him, and gave him two matching devilish grins.  
"We know someone who you could talk to~"  
"Yeah, she would absolutely _love_ to talk to you~"  
Tamaki slowly looked back and forth between the two of them, too ignorant to see the hidden motives in their eyes and began to smile. "Really? Who is she? Is she nice? Is she one of our guests?"  
"She's, uh... Well, you're gonna love her~!"  
Tamaki just blinked again and bounced up to his feet. "Tell me, what is the name of this new princess of ours?"  
"Her name-" Hikaru started.  
"-is Mystique," Kaoru finished.  
All heads slowly turned to look at the twins. Even Kyoya looked up from his laptop.  
"Mystique...? You mean... The new girl who curses people just by looking them in the eyes...?" Tamaki whimpered slightly, paling at the thoughts of getting cursed like the time he stepped on Belzenhef and got "cursed" by Nekozowa. Hikaru raised an eyebrow at him and gazed over to Kaoru, who glanced at him with a knowing look in his eyes.  
"Rumor has it that she's been pretty bummed lately~"  
"And you know what we're supposed to do for girls like that~"  
That made him stop momentarily. After little while of thinking, he sighed and nodded slowly.  
"As a member of the elite Ouran host club, it is our duty to make every girl happy..." he said dutifully. He was just about to reach for the door handle to leave when a devious smile of his own snaked it's way onto his face. The twins didn't know why he stopped and so went over to their king.  
"Boys, I will talk to this new girl IF she comes to the club as my guest! Since YOU wanted someone to talk to her so badly, it is you who will go convince her to come here. If you cannot get her to attend by the end of the week, then you are banned from messing with Haruhi in the week that follows! And if you quit trying or give up, you forfeit the bet and cannot mess with her for the rest of this week AND the following week."  
The twins were always up for this kind of thing when they were sure they couldn't lose, and they definitely were not ones to back down from a bet. But, if they were going to play along, they were gonna play with their own little twists.  
"Do we have to have her come of her own free will?" Hikaru asked with a brow raised. It would've been much easier if they could just bring her here by THEIR terms.  
"Yes, what kind of question is that, you stupid twin!?" Tamaki shouted, face gone entirely red. "What kind of reputation do you think we will have if you kidnap a girl to bring her here!? Use your _brain_!"  
Tamaki took a deep breath in and began to mumble about how it might be a bad idea to bring her to the club anyway, especially having the twins be the ones to bring her. Although Kyoya usually wouldn't partake much in this kind of ordeal, he looked up with a certain flash in his eyes. He'd figured out some way for the end of this bet to possibly benefit himself, as well. And, of course, if there is some way for him to profit out of these kind of antics, you know he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. So he wasn't about to let them end the chance before it came up.  
"Actually, Tamaki, this might be beneficial for the club. As per my agreement with Mr. Suoh and the school board, I can only view the information files of those who are our guests. If she were to request any one of you, I would then gain access to her records. Not to mention you always want to help girls out, and you might be able to... say... bring her out of her shell a bit?"  
He was trying to make sure Tamaki would definitely keep up this specific antic. And, of course, it worked. The blond host king was a sucker for the whole 'damsels in distress' thing, _especially_ if he was the one who was able to 'save' them, and Kyoya knew exactly how to exploit that. Tamaki nodded a bit with a huge grin starting to form on his face, determination growing in his eyes. Kyoya managed to hide his own little smirk as soon as he knew it was working.  
"Of course! We will welcome that poor girl into our world of beauty with open arms!" he proclaimed loudly. He then spun around to face the twins, pointing a finger at them.  
"YOU boys now have an even more important mission ahead of you! You have an entire month now to get this mysterious girl to come to our club! You will befriend her, learn about her, and earn her trust enough to have her willingly come with you and request a host! I don't care what it takes, we WILL save this damsel in distress!" he announced determinedly.  
The twins looked at each other and shrugged a bit, knowing that Tamaki's mind couldn't be changed once it was made. After whispering back and forth to each other for a while, they finally agreed to go along with the plan. They decided that it could be pretty fun, and they didn't think it could possibly hurt anyone in doing so. It's a win-win for everyone, right?


	3. Looking Beyond the Usual

It had already been a week since Tamaki had told the twins to get the "mysterious new girl" to come to the club. But, as some of you may have guessed, there was no luck in getting that to happen just yet. Not only was the new girl a master at evading all forms of human contact, but they didn't have any classes with her at all! And even during lunch, nobody really knew where she went. The rumors had it that she never ate in the same place twice, and that she would always be in the shadows so nobody could see her moving around. But surely the revered Host King wouldn't base the entirety of his operations for the mission around rumors, right?  
As it turns out, he would. The twins, being how they usually were, followed what Tamaki had ordered them to do with their own little added flair. But, even though they felt like it was a very important mission, even they had to admit that it was useless to listen to what Tamaki was saying. Who else would have them conduct fake interviews with the most random of people around the school just to see if they knew something about someone who nobody knew? Well, maybe they would have done that by themselves eventually if all else had failed, but they weren't likely to admit that. Some would say they were like Tamaki in that they're random and fun-loving, but also like Kyoya in that they are as smart as they are mischievous.  
The time limit was getting shorter and shorter, and the twins were not going to be beat by some random girl that was basically a nobody to everyone. They had their reputation at stake and nobody was going to make them look like fools. Not if they could help it, of course, and there was one person outside of the club that they had yet to ask for help.  
Nekozowa.  
There were more than a few rumors of Mystique hanging around the Dark Prince, and all seemed plausible. Any rumor could sound possible when you don't know a person personally, but they had nothing else to go on at that point. And, it does sound like it could be true, right? Someone as mysterious as her being around someone as dark as the Dark Prince himself? Needless to say, Tamaki wasn't thrilled abut that possibility; which in turn made the twins happy since he would most likely leave them alone while they went to talk to Nekozowa.  
In fact, the thought of being able to actually find her in that one place they had yet to search thus far as taking away from their hosting capabilities. Every one of their guests, when they weren't fawning over brotherly love that is, were easily able to tell their minds were elsewhere. But, when Kaoru almost dropped the tea set, Hikaru was able to think on the spot and play it off like it was part of their routine. Hikaru held up the tray in one hand, his brother caught in the crook of his arm, and tilted up Kaoru's chin with the other.  
"Kaoru, you should be more careful... You could have hurt yourself, and I just wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I allowed you to get hurt..." His words were soft, not quite a whisper, and yet there was the slightest waver of worry in his voice.  
"I-I'm sorry... Hikaru..." he whispered back, gazing up at the elder twin with eyes glistening, nearly on the brink of tears. Of course, on the inside, he was laughing a bit at their abilities to come up with material on the spot such as that. As they had expected, the many guests around them squealed in awe and their typical fangirling activities, and the club continued on as usual.  
Which brings us to their relatively minute* free time after the club ended that day. This was the only time they were almost sure they would be able to question Nekozowa without any interruption from any of their guests or fellow host cub members. And so, although a bit relieved at the few moments peace, the two siblings walked up to the grand double-doors with a bit of hesitation in their step. The one thing they had neglected to think about over the past few weeks had came across their minds for the first time.  
What if she _was_ in there? What were they going to say to her in order to get her to hang out with them? What would happen if she just flat-out refused to even acknowledge them ? They would fail their mission and Tamaki would hold them to the At first they thought it would have been better for the conversation to go more naturally, so as not to let onto her that anything they said would be "rehearsed". But, with every step closer to the door, the more they each began to think it would have been better to have planed ahead.  
With a glance to his twin, silently confirming to each other that proceeding would be the best choice, Hikaru took a deep breath in and raised his hand slowly up to the door. At first, he habitually reached for the doorknob without really feeling the need to knock before entering. But, thoughts of what could happen if he got either of them truly angered by a sudden intrusion made him raise his hand and knock lightly on the heavy wooden door. Kaoru cleared his throat slightly after a few seconds of complete silence from the other side, looking over to Hikaru again.  
"Maybe they're not here?" he suggested, half hopeful and yet also slightly disappointed.  
Hikaru shook his head and knocked louder. "Of course he is; Nekozowa is always here. It is his club room, after all. I guess I just didn't knock loud enough, that's all..."  
And, sure enough, they could soon see the knob on the door begin to turn and the door creaked open almost painstakingly slow. On the other side of the door was darkness, save the glow of a few lit candles throughout the room. Not that they did very much to brighten up the features of the room, but it was light nonetheless. On the walls, they could make out foreign objects, masks, symbols, and talismans of some sort. They figured they were for the club's black magic purposes, and didn't really care to know what exactly they were used for.  
"Hello. What brings two hosts such as yourselves to my little place of dark magic?"  
Each of the twins jumped a bit at the sudden voice, a figure all too familiar emerging from the darkness and peering at them from the inside. The hooded and cloaked male just gave them an admittedly eerie smile and lifted up his puppet-clad hand, making the cloth hand wave at them. Kaoru tried to peer further into the room to see if any other people were there, but his vision was blocked by a certain person and their puppet. Hikaru, on the other hand, stood up with a straighter posture as he cleared his throat to talk.  
"Hey Nekozowa, we were wondering if you knew where a certain person is. We've searched all over the entire school, and you're the only other person we could think of to ask."  
"Oh? Do tell, who might this girl be? She must have a name, I'm sure. Perhaps a description?" The strange request had peaked his interest, and had him slightly lower his hand as a sign he was paying attention.  
Hikaru glanced over to Kaoru, seeing a twinge of nervousness in his eyes, before looking back to Nekozowa.  
"Well, actually... We don't really know. Either of those things, really, we don't," he said, scratching the back of his head to try and rid himself of the nerves. "Heh, you see, the thing is... nobody knows what her name is and we've never _technically_ seen her."  
Nekozowa raised a brow under his wig skeptically, beginning to question their intentions. "You mean to tell me... you want my help in finding someone whom you don't know the name of and you don't even know what they look like?"  
Kaoru's face began to redden, realizing how offbeat it must sound to someone else, and he shook his hands in front of him dismissively.  
"Oh sure, when you put it like that, it sounds kind of crazy. But what if we told you that she's that one new kid that came here a while ago? What do people call her...? Christie? Mary? Mist... Misty... Mystique? Yeah, that's it! People have been calling her 'Mystique'. Does that help?

Hikaru rolled his eyes a bit, quickly growing tired of waiting around. "Look, can you help us or not?"  
All at once, the dark prince began to smile and laugh quietly under his breath as he opened the door further to allow the brothers a better view of the room.  
"Oh, I believe I can help you, alright... Mystique, it looks like you have a couple of visitors," he chuckled as he motioned toward the female figure in the back of the room the twins hadn't been able to see beforehand.  
As they both found themselves unable to turn away, the person slowly turned around from their position to look at the door. As her face was revealed, the twins each emitted an almost audible gasp as they saw Mystique's features for the very first time.  
"Yes?"


	4. By the Bell

The girl they now knew as Mystique stared blankly at the twins and arose from her seat, closing the book she had apparently been reading by the candlelight. Crossing her arms as she continued to gaze at them, she approached the boys without any hurry in her steps, waiting for them to speak. She was definitely different than they had expected. She certainly didn't seem as intimidating as they had imagined, and definitely was shorter. In fact, she was _barely_ as tall as they were! All of her features seemed to be much softer and more child-like than rumored. All except for her eyes; each a stunningly bright shade of blue that seemed to be able to pierce into their very souls.  
"Well? Do you have anything to say to me, or do you not?" she huffed quietly, yet impatiently.  
Kaoru was the first to make an audible sound that could be understood as actual words; stammering a bit before clearing his throat to speak more clearly.  
"Actually, we were wondering if you'd... like to..." he trailed off, not sure how exactly to phrase it, and looked towards Hikaru to silently plead for help.  
"-If you'd like to hang out with us," finished Hikaru, glancing at his brother. "Lunch tomorrow, after school some time, at our club during club hours, on the roof during a free period, whatever."  
Mystique just shrugged and was about to go back to where she'd been sitting when Nekozowa blocked her path. It became very clear to her rather quickly that she was going to give an answer whether she wanted to or not. With an annoyed little sigh and a roll of her eyes, she turned back to the host twins, each of which were secretly hoping she'd freely choose the club as her first choice without need of persuasion. However, it was already obvious to them that she didn't want any part of any of it.  
"In order: maybe, not on your life, not a chance, and you would have better luck turning me into a tree. And _if_ we do lunch, _I_ will be choosing the location. You are not getting me to go anywhere crowded, am I understood?" Her words were calm but fierce. And although her tone of voice was soft, her voice remaining quiet, it still showed she would not budge on the matter. If anything, it actually made it a little more creepy and serious. As they both gave a sigh and nodded reluctantly, she took a step closer to look them each in the eyes.  
"We meet here at the lunch bell. And if you are late, I will be eating without you."  
And with that, she stepped back, turned, and went back to her book, giving Nekozowa a slight glare as she walked by. All he did was chuckle at her and wave goodbye to the twins. As they walked away together, all was silent except for the creaking of the door closing behind them. Although she did not yet agree to go to the club with them, they had finally made contact and confirmed a set up to another meeting. A small victory in their eyes, yet still a victory nonetheless.  
There wasn't much time left in school that day, and Kaoru for one was a bit anxious to go home. He was fidgeting in his seat all through the limo ride home, which was just making Hikaru feel anxious and a bit confused. As soon as they got home, Kaoru went strait up to their room and all but flung his school supplies onto the floor, siting on the bed and lying back with a sigh. Hikaru raised a brow and walked over, calmly setting down his bag. It was highly unusual fr him to be the least enthusiastic about coming home, so naturally he wasn't just going to sit back and leave things unquestioned.  
"Kaoru, what's the deal today? First you act all weird when we were trying to get that Mystique girl to come with us; not talking right and needing my help to ask her to hang. And now you're in an even bigger hurry to be home than I am. I know you, Kaoru, and that's not something you normally do. So tell me," he said as he sat next to his brother, "what's gotten you so freaked out?"  
At first he stayed silent and motionless, eyes closed and thinking of just how to answer. He then sat up from his lying down position slightly, resting his head on his left hand as he opened his eyes to meet Hikaru's gaze. His stern look let Kaoru know he wasn't about to let the topic go. So, he sighed in defeat and lied back down again, arms stretched out on either side of him and eyes now looking disinterested upwards at the plain bedroom ceiling.  
"Honestly...? I'm not sure. There was just something about that girl... Did you see the way she looked at us? Her eyes? There was just something in them that reminded me of something..."  
"Reminds you of what?" If Hikaru were to tell the truth, it wasn't exactly her eyes he was looking at out of everything in the room that was attention-worthy.  
Kaoru just turned over onto his side and looked out the window, staring off into the distance with yet another sigh.  
"I... Never mind, it was probably nothing anyway. I don't really know what it was anymore. It was just.. unsettling, I guess. Maybe it was the stories about her that got me freaked out. I mean, everything we heard about her made me think she was going to be this really creepy witch lady, but she looks like every other girl we've ever talked to!" Except those eyes, he almost added, but decided against it. Why add something that would make him continue to ask questions? He knew he was the more philosophical out of the two, and pushed it off as him being a little over-imaginative.  
"If you say so, I guess..."  
Hikaru wasn't really convinced, but he left it alone at that. It still bothered him with the knowledge that whatever it was had made Kaoru so unnerved, but he didn't want to push him into telling. Even though it was unlike him to no speak his mind about things that bothered him, Kaoru was the closest person to him and he didn't want to spoil how comfortable they were around each other. They did have to see each other every single day, after all.

 _~Time Skip Brought to You By: Kyoya's Laptop. Screw Apple, Kyoya has Pineapple~_

The rest of the day passed and it soon came to when they had to yet again go to their classes, each minute seeming to take an agonizingly longer amount of time than normal. But, most students didn't need to have high grades to stay in the academy thanks to their parents' money anyway, so it wasn't unusual for quite a few students not to pay attention to the teacher's lectures. However, what _was_ a bit unusual was that Hikaru and Kaoru both lingered around the classroom for a little while after the bell to end class before lunch.  
Haruhi would have asked them what was going on, but she didn't want to have Tamaki screaming at her later for talking to the twins during their "special" mission; although she had still yet to be told what the mission even was. But, the way she saw it, it didn't concern her if they didn't include her in it anyway. And even though most of the girls in the class had a slight-to-major crush on one or both of them, they were either too shy to make contact or knew they always had lunch with the other club members.  
Hikaru looked over to the clock and sighed as he stood up from his seat, the classroom now completely deserted except for them.  
"Hey, Kaoru, we should get going if we want to get there in time. Uh, Kaoru..?"  
"Huh? Oh, right. Sure.." Kaoru stood up as he answered absentmindedly, grabbing his bag and glancing wearily at the door. "Wouldn't want to miss _that_.." he mumbled as they began to walk to Nekozowa's club room together. It was still strange for Hikaru to hear Kaoru acting like that.  
 _~Yes, another skip of time. Because the fourth wall dictates it to be so!~_

"Hurry up, Kaoru, we're gonna miss the bell!" Hikaru shouted to his twin as they ran through the hallway. They only had barely half a minute left, if even that long, to get across nearly half the school to Nekozowa's club room. They passed and bumped into several other kids walking by, but only called out a small "sorry" every so often, on their way, and were within sight of the club room doors when the bell for lunch rang.  
"Damn it..!" they each cursed silently under their breath as they finally reached their destination. Hikaru began to nearly pound on the door, thinking that there was no way Mystique would hold a few seconds against them. The door then opened mid-knock, and the bored face of the mysterious girl herself appeared.  
"...You are late," she stated, walking past the panting twins without a second glance.  
"Hey, it was only a couple seconds!'  
"Yeah, it isn't fair to hold that against us!"  
"Welcome to life; no refunds."  
Mystique was walking at a calm yet brisk pace down the hall, not looking behind her to see if the twins were following. Which, of course, they were. She made several sharp turns, many to avoid crowded hallways, and stopped momentarily to open up a heavy metal door. The twins knew the door well; it was the way they had often taken to go up to the roof.  
She started her way up the stairs and sighed when she reached the top, going over to a small, hand-made little cozy area. Closing her eyes and not even acknowledging the twins' existence, she sat down and lied back to make herself feel more comfortable. The two young hosts looked at each other before walking over to her and standing before her.  
"Should we sit?" Kaoru finally asked, breaking the silence and causing Mystique to open an eye and look up at him. She closed her eye again a moment later before answering.  
"I am not going to force you to stand, if that is what you mean."  
The boys took that as an invitation to sit and join her, to which they obliged and sat cross-legged in front of her. Neither of them had exactly come up with anything to say at that point, and Mystique definitely wasn't going to be starting a conversation any time soon.  
"So," Hikaru began, "why do you come up to the roof instead of going down and sitting with friends in the cafeteria?"  
Mystique looked at him with a look cold as a frozen rain as she answered, her words just as icy as her gaze, "It would not seem I have very many friends to sit with, now would it?"  
Kaoru was about to ask a question himself, but she spoke again before he could utter a single word.  
"No offense, but why are you guys insisting on talking to me? Why not get lost and talk to someone else or something?"  
Kaoru looked to his brother and tried to stammer out a response, but Hikaru quickly spoke up before he could tell the truth.  
"We were curious and wanted to see if we could become your friends. I don't see what's the big deal, honestly, we're going to do what we want anyway. Even if you told us no."  
Kaoru nodded in agreement with the falsehood, although it made his stomach turn at the thought of what would be to happen if she found out about it. He didn't understand why he felt that way though; he had lied on many occasions and never thought twice about it.  
Mystique hummed a bit in response, reaching under some blankets, pulling out a small lunch box, and opening it.  
"Fine. But do not expect me to get all buddy-buddy with you. I am only here because Umehito would not let me out of it."  
She pulled a few things out of the box and handed them to the boys, taking notice that they had forgotten to bring lunches themselves, then brought out something for herself. As she bused herself with that, the twins each gazed at each other before turning back to her with similar looks of confusion.  
"Uh... 'Umehito'?"  
"Yes, Umehito. You know him, yes? Nekozawa?  
"Well we figured that," Hikaru snapped slightly. "What we meant was what's the deal with you and that guy?"  
"Yeah, I've _never_ heard anyone else call him by his first name except for teachers," Kaoru added.  
"We met during a business meeting."

"A... Business meeting?"

"Yes, as in none of yours," she responded coolly, looking at them almost bemusedly, biting into an apple. "This is fun, ask me something else."  
Hikaru couldn't help but glare at her, knowing she was partly making fun of them and also just waiting for an excuse to do it again. She only snickered in response, taking another bite of the apple, daring him to ask another question. The next few moments passed in complete silence, Kaoru expecting Hikaru to be the forward one and just ask something bluntly like an interrogation. It became apparent that he wasn't going to, and Kaoru finally stepped up and asked something of his own. It had been nagging at the back of his mind for a while, and he figured now would be as good a time as any.  
"If you love our questions so much, I have one for you. What's your real name? I know everyone calls you Mystique and everything, but everyone knows that's just what people call you because nobody actually knows. So what is it?"  
Mystique's face became very serious and she looked around the rooftop, looking or anyone who would be daring enough to eavesdrop. She leaned in close to them, as if to divulge some sort of top secret information, and motioned for them to come forward. They did as she instructed, now suddenly very serious as well and more interested in what she had to say than they had been previously. And as they came close enough to hear her words, she looked them dead in the eyes and quietly whispered to the both of them:  
"If I told you, I would have to kill you."  
It felt as though minutes passed before Mystique pulled away with a slight smirk, very clearly amused at the two boys before her. Her arms were crossed across her chest as she gave a curt laugh of sorts as the boys just stared at her with widened eyes.  
"Stop looking at me like that! I am just messing with you. As if I would tell you, anyway. If people want to call me 'Mystique', then so be it. I know who I am, even if nobody else does," she shrugged, slumping back into her little seat and giving the twins one more little, bemused smile.  
"Oh, and you are late for class," she said, the bell ringing not even two seconds after she finished. The twins looked at each their quickly before bolting to the door and rushing down to their classes, the laughter of a certain mysterious girl following them the stairwell. And it was at that moment that the both of them realized that bringing her to the club was might prove to be more difficult than they thought.


	5. A New I-O-U

"Oh, come on, boss! Just a little more time!"  
"We've been trying to get her here for _days_!"  
"Yeah, she just won't tell us anything! What are _we_ supposed to do about it?"  
Hikaru and Kaoru both tried to plead with the host king to give them more time, but he wasn't budging on the matter.  
"Sorry boys, but I told you a month and you're not going to slink past with more than that. If you don't get her here by next week, you lose. It's as simple as that," Tamaki said plainly, a cup of tea in his hand and a slight smile tugging the corner of his lips. If they lost, sure the club wouldn't get a new customer, but his little Haruhi would be away from the twins for over a week. In all honesty, he had been a bit surprised they even got as far as they did.  
"Well, I don't see what we can do about it. She just won't come!" Kaoru huffed, sitting on one of the couches with Hikaru, arms crossed.  
Haruhi passed by with a tray of tea and coffee and stopped walking just as she heard their conversation. It made her slightly curious. And also partially genuinely concerned.  
"You guys aren't planning on kidnapping a girl or something, right?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at them. Tamaki perked up slightly at the sound of her voice, about to tell her all about the 'mission', but Hikaru cut him off.  
"No, we're trying to bring this girl we know to the club. But she's really shy or something like that and doesn't want to come yet, and Tamaki wants her here by next week because that time is always slow," he lied swiftly, waving his hand in a slightly dismissive manner. "Think you could help is out?"  
Haruhi put down the tea tray and put a finger to her chin as if she were about to solve some complex equation.  
"Well, has she met anyone else in the club before? If she's shy about being around so many people, maybe if she knew more than just you guys it'd help," she answered after a moment of thought. "I mean, I guess I'd be a bit freaked out too if you expected me to go somewhere like this around people I don't know. Especially if being around so many others is what's keeping her from coming."  
The twins looked at each other, as if both thinking _'Why didn't_ _ **we**_ _think of that?'_ , and then turned to Haruhi again with a small smirk.  
"Oh, Haruhi~" they sing-songed in unison, getting up and standing either side of her. "We've got a job for you-"  
"No."  
"Come on, though! It _was_ your idea introduce her to someone else in the club!" Hikaru tried to reason.  
"Yeah, and you're perfect for the job!" added Kaoru.  
"Tch, yeah right," she scoffed. "You guys are just going to try and mess with me. Why don't you just get Honey-sempai to go or something?"  
"Well, his kind of cuteness isn't really her thing, and you're the only other one that is least likely to scare her off," they explained.  
Haruhi thought about it and sighed, thinking they might be right... Depending on what this girl was like. Mori wasn't much for conversation, she had noticed, and he probably wouldn't go without Honey anyway. Kyoya wasn't that interested in conversing either. Well, unless it happens to be about business profits or something. And Tamaki was, well... Tamaki. And she knew that his special blend of crazy and prince didn't work on everyone.  
"Alright, fine. But if this is another one of your half-wit schemes, I'm out."  
"Good, we'll meet at lunch tomorrow," Hikaru decided, wanting to get her to the club as soon as he could. Then they couldn't care less about whether she continued coming or not.

The rest of the evening passed without many eventful happenings, and it soon came to be the class before lunch once more. Haruhi was actually paying attention to the lesson and scribbling down notes just as fast as she could while the twins just stared at the teacher with disinterest. They didn't have a scholarship they needed to keep their grades up for, so why bother?  
They looked up at the clock every now and again, growing less and less patient with every second that ticked by. Mystique had held them accountable for being late the second time they tried to have lunch with her and locked the door behind her on her way to the roof, giving them even less time to convince her to go to the club. And they knew that she would do it again, too. Which is why they were determined to get there as early as possible. It was no longer just about making sure that they'd keep Haruhi as their 'toy'... It was about proving they could still win the challenge!  
The bell finally rang and the boys shot straight up out of their seats, grabbing Haruhi by her arms just as she finished putting everything away. Disregarding the protests and the objections from the female host, they brought her quickly to Nekozawa's club room. They finally put her down to knock on the door together, which allowed her to straighten up her jacket and chide the twins for doing it. But, they weren't listening in the slightest; they were only waiting for one of the people on the other side to open the door and either let them in or come on out.  
Lo and behold, Mystique opened the door and gave them her usual blank look just as the next bell rang, not a moment after nor before. She looked at each of the twins before giving any inclination that she even noticed Haruhi. But, instead of commenting on her presence like they thought she would, she simply began making her way up to the roof just the same way she had every other time. Silent as shadows, they followed her (a little prodding from the twins getting Haruhi to go too).  
They got up to the roof and she sat in the same place, the twins making Haruhi sit directly in front of her and between the two of them. She pulled out a couple of rice balls and handed them to the twins, then pulled out a small bento box, putting it on the ground in front of Haruhi.  
"I was not expecting more company than usual today, but this should suffice. Why did you come here?"  
Haruhi shook her head and pulled out her own packed lunch, then looked accusingly between the twins.  
"I always bring my own lunch, so don't worry about food for me. As for why I'm here, you can thank these two for that. They wanted you to meet someone else from the club so that you might change your mind about not going."  
Mystique slowly nodded her head and took the bento box back. To her, Haruhi didn't seem like the hosting type.  
"So you are a host, yes?"  
"Yeah, it's a long story. All I can really say is make sure you don't break something really expensive if you can't pay for it," she said, opening her lunch and giving Mystique a smile like the one she usually gave to her guests at the club; almost as if mentioning some kind of inside joke.  
Mystique gave a small nod and took out her own lunch, glancing at the twins for a moment before mirroring a small smile back to Haruhi. She found it easier to talk to this host than she did with Hikaru and Kaoru when they first met.  
"I see.. So you are only involved with them because you owe them. I hae heard of how you hosts 'entertain' the guests, and I am afraid it does not interest me. I would rather not pay to be flirted with for a few minutes and then watch others get flirted with. Besides..." she took out an apple, tossing it into the air and catching it. "I hate being around so many people at once."  
Haruhi nodded, saying, "Yeah, I get it. To be honest, I didn't like it at all at first. The guys can be annoying at times-"  
" _Hey_!"  
"-but they're really not so bad once you get used to it," she finished, ignoring the interrupting twins. "I actually enjoy it sometimes, and most of the customers are really nice."  
Mystique bit into the apple, looking at Haruhi with a thoughtful expression. If someone as relatable as Haruhi, relatable even to her, actually found it enjoyable, then maybe it wouldn't be too terrible to try it out just the once. And, if she _didn't_ enjoy herself as she expected, then it was only one day wasted, right? She chewed slowly in contemplation before swallowing and bringing the apple back up, stopping with it barely brushing up against her lips.  
"Well, I suppose it would not be the end of the world if I were to check it out... And, I suppose I do owe you for these two dragging you up here just to talk to me," she finally decided, earning a small glare from the twins.  
"Hey, we've been coming up here for over a week!" Hikaru complained, crossing his arms in protest.  
"Yeah, Haruhi comes up here once and all of the sudden _that's_ the person you owe?" Kaoru agreed, making the same movements as his brother. Why was she so difficult for them?  
Mystique raised an eyebrow and glared at them, almost daring them to say another word about it.  
"And every single one of those days, which one out of all of us provided the food? Not to mention, you were the ones who chose to come here of your own free will despite all reasons not to; but Haruhi was brought here by the two of you, not on a whim. And, not only did Haruhi not need my food for lunch, but also did not try to pressure me into going when I said I did not want to. Therefore, I owe Haruhi, not either of you two."  
They became silent at that and looked away, defeated. Haruhi was also silent, but smiling slightly nonetheless.  
"So, I guess since I owe you, I will 'request' you, Haruhi," Mystique said after a few more moments of silence, still unsure about her decision.  
"I look forward to it," Haruhi responded with a small smile. "We'll see you then."


	6. To Meet a Host

The bell to end classes rang, and students moved out to fill the hallways for their period of free time. This was the time in which students could hang out in libraries, in the courtyard, garden, and in club rooms. And, of course, the Host Club was open during this time as well. One student, however, was not so keen to join the crowds of people. Mystique was standing by a door in Nekozawa's dark magic club room, the one that happened to go into the music room that the hosts currently occupied.  
Since she seemed to frequent most of her time there, it wasn't that difficult for the two hosts looking for her to find her. The twins opened the door, somehow knowing she was in that specific room. Their hands were on their hips, mirroring each other perfectly, and they both had growing smirks on their lips. Mystique jumped back a slight bit in surprise and was about to back away entirely when they shot out their hands, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her out into the music room. The door closed loudly behind her and she found herself being stared at by nearly every host in the room.  
"Guys? It's a bit early to bring in a guest. The club doesn't start for another fifteen minutes," Tamaki pointed out, standing from the couch and making his way over to Mystique and the twins. Despite this however, he held a rose out to her with a princely, charming smile.  
"But I see this young lady is a new guest. We are honored to have you here, princess... Please, would you do me the honor of giving me your name?" he asked, still with his near-famous smile.  
She didn't answer him, but only inched away from the outstretched hand as much as the twins would allow. This only made the host king laugh, telling her there was no need to be shy, and that he only wished to hear her name.  
"Uh, boss, this isn't just some shy newbie," Hikaru interjected.  
"Oh?" he asked, retracting his hand slightly as he looked at the twins. "Then who is she?"  
"Duh, this is Mystique," Kaoru told him, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
Tamaki let out a small squeak and was hiding behind Kyoya's couch in an instant, leaving the twins to nearly face-palm at his reaction. The other hosts' reactions weren't nearly as frightened as their king's. Mori, for example, didn't show any feelings of fear or of anything else, for that matter. And Honey was a bit fascinated, but also a bit wary of her. Haruhi just gave a welcoming half-smile, they already having met. Meanwhile, Kyoya was making notes in his special black notebook and staring at her in a calculating sort of way, standing up almost on instinct.  
"Yes, I feel _so_ welcomed..." Mystique mumbled under her breath, then sighed. "Well, if you are not open, then I suppose that means I can leave."  
She turned quickly, determined to get out as soon as possible, but was immediately blocked by the host twins.  
"Oh no you don't!" they said, grabbing her and turning her to face the other hosts and gave her a little push.  
Well, it wasn't so much a little push as it was a shove that caused her to stumble forward in order to keep her balance. This sent her straight into the Shadow King himself; Kyoya. The sudden impact against his book made the pen (as he was still using it to write with at the moment) jerk across the page. It tore the paper slightly as well, effectively ruining everything he had written about her. She stayed still for a moment before slowly looking up and all but jumping away, apologizing profusely and avoiding eye contact as much as possible.  
He only cleared his throat slightly, fixing his glasses and snapping his notebook shut. There was something about the way the light in his glasses flashed that seemed almost... _menacing_. But, Mystique somehow found herself backing up into someone else, looking up to see the stoic expression of Mori looking down at her. Honey jumped out of his seat and grabbed Mystique's arm in a tight hug, giggling slightly, his hyper young face beaming up at her.  
"She's not as scary as we thought, is she, Takashi?" he asked, and Mori responded with a slight shake of his head. "Hey, do you wanna have some cake with me?" He was now smiling up at her brightly, waiting for her answer.  
"Oh, um... I do not think that is really... necessary..." she mumbled, gently trying to pry him off. "I am not supposed to have many sweets, but thank you. So, I will take a rain check."  
He pouted a bit but Mori got him to go back to eating his cake and talking to his bunny. Mystique sighed softly, and turned again, this time coming face-to-chest with none other than the Host Club King. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and spoke of how wonderful and gracious it was for the club to be able to "take her in" and allow her to show that she wasn't as "freaky" as she was depicted. In fact, he made it look like some kind of glorious speech, waving his arm this way or that as he spoke, and finally throwing up both arms while exclaiming something about a world of beauty. Which led her to bump into Haruhi, letting Mystique calm a bit from the amount of host-related information she had just taken in.  
"So, Mystique, what sort of host are you looking for?" Tamaki questioned, gesturing to each host as he said their names and host types. "Perhaps the cool and confident Kyoya? The short and sweet Honey or the strong and silent Mori? Or maybe the mischievous twins, Hikaru and Kaoru? Or, just perhaps, are you looking for a guy like me~?"  
Maybe he left out Haruhi because he secretly didn't want her to request her, or maybe he still hadn't gotten used to the newest host. But whatever the reason was didn't matter because Mystique stood strait and tall, ignoring his offers anyway.  
"While that all sounds fine and dandy, I'm just going to go with Haruhi and leave when my time is up. I don't really like change, so the sooner I finish here, the sooner I can get back to where I want to be," she stated plainly, not at all paying attention to the hurt expression on Tamaki's face.  
But before another word could be said, Mystique was met with a clipboard all but shoved into her line of view. She took it in her hands and followed up the arm to Kyoya's glasses, the glare from the lenses making it near impossible to see his eyes. As he adjusted them not a moment later, she looked back down and saw a list of signatures, all under a category labeled "Fujioka, Haruhi".  
"While you are a... _special_ addition to our guest list, you still have to be _on_ the list in order to meet with any of the hosts officially," explained Kyoya matter-of-factly. "You must put down your name, even just your first will do, on the next available time slot and pay a small fee if you wish to be seated earlier or have a one-on-one meeting. However... You are a first time guest, which means you get a selective discount this time."  
Mystique only rolled her eyes and scribbled down her name, marking down that she was willing to give payment.  
"I want it one-on-one, and I want it to be the earliest available when there are not as many people around. No funny business and no cheap tricks, understood?"  
She reached into the back pocket of her black-denim jeans (as she absolutely refused to wear the female uniform) and pulled out a simplistic, black leather wallet. However, instead of asking how much the amount would come to, she just pulled out a random amount of money and thrust her hand with the slightly-crumpled bills into Kyoya's chest. He lifted his own hands to take the money just as she let go, allowing them to fall into his hands with no unnecessary skin-to-skin contact involved. It didn't take him long after he began counting to figure out there there was much more money than was needed to pay the fees thrice over.  
"Keep the change, I do not care. If I ever want to come again, which I doubt, you could put it toward another one-on-one session or something. But, if not, just use it for something else," Mystique said boredly, walking over to a large window and sitting in front of, choosing to sit on the floor instead of on one of the many chairs in the room.  
"Oh, and wake me when it is my turn," she added, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head, putting in earbuds, and closing her eyes.  
For a moment or two, none of the members moved to do anything (with the exception of Hunny, who had been stuffing his face with cake the entire time). But, like all things, the silence came to an end, and the room was soon filled with young ladies looking to be entertained by the men of the host club. Few of the guests were able to tear their attention away from their host long enough to even notice the silent form of Mystique, who had fallen asleep by the window. And even fewer chose to put aside their desire to be wooed by the boys to ask about the mysterious girl.  
"Haruhi, who is that girl over there?" one of Haruhi's regular guests, a nice brunette girl named Momoka Kurakano, queried softly.  
"Yeah, I've never seen her here before. Is she new?" a short haired brunette named Kimiko Sakurazuka agreed, another of Haruhi's regulars.  
"Oh, her? Her name is Mystique, and she came here as one of my guests," she answered with a small smile. The two girls in front of her paled slightly the moment her name was mentioned. Haruhi, slightly oblivious Haruhi, raised an eyebrow at their sudden changes in demeanor. She hadn't heard any rumors like everyone else had, as she had been far too focused on her studies and such to pay attention to gossiping.  
"Are you two okay? You both look a little pale," Haruhi inquired, only to have them shake their heads slightly.  
"No, it's not that, it's just that.." Kimiko began, glancing down to her tea cup and then to Mystique.  
"She's not what we expected from what we've heard about her," Momoka finished, instead trying to avoid looking away from her own hands.  
"Hey, if you're worried about meeting her or something like that, don't be. I've met her before and talked to her, so I wouldn't mind introducing you. She seems kind of lonely, and around new people, and I really think she'll like two nice girls like yourselves," Haruhi said with a charming smile, her words making the girls in front of her blush faintly. They were about to object, but the look on their favorite host's face made them keep quiet and nod.  
Haruhi stood up at that and went over to the sleeping girl, then knelt in front of her and put her hand on her shoulder to wake her up. To her surprise, Mystique's eyes shot open in an instant and her hand was suddenly on Haruhi's wrist. But she let go as soon as she recognized the host, then pulled her earbuds out with a sigh.  
"I am sorry, Haruhi, for grabbing you. I was not expecting you, that is all.." she apologized, slowly standing up with Haruhi. Haruhi just shook her head and lead her over to the table where Kimiko and Momoka were waiting a bit anxiously, but Mystique remained expressionless at the moment.  
"Look, I know you wanted it to be one-on-one, but I think it would be okay if you could join us," Haruhi explained, sitting in her chair again and motioning to an empty seat between herself and Momoka.  
"Well... If you say so..." Mystique hesitated, but slowly pulled out the chair and sat in it, nodding to the two unfamiliar girls silently before looking at the tea set on the table in front of her. She didn't know what she was supposed to do.  
"So, um... Haruhi?" Kimiko began, trying to start up the conversation again. "What's your favorite color?"  
"Oh, a favorite color? Well..." Haruhi put a finger to her chin thoughtfully, Momoka and Kimiko hanging onto every word and Mystique vaguely paying attention.  
"I do like the color red, I suppose. I mean, when I was younger, my mom always said I looked cute when I dressed in red," she remembered, a fond smile on her lips.  
"But, I think I've always had a bit of a fondness for the color blue, too," she added, giving the girls a bright smile. "So, what are your favorite colors, girls?"  
"Oh, I don't think I could choose, I love _all_ colors!" Kimiko answered, staring dreamily at Haruhi.  
Momoka nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but I think I like colors that are mixed together a bit more. Things like... Blue-green or blue-violet!"  
Haruhi looked expectantly at Mystique to answer, but she practically refused to even look up at her. She was fiddling with her thumbs under the table while every girl at the table was staring at her, waiting for her to speak. The two other guests were still slightly afraid to push it, thinking that maybe she was going to curse them or something. Haruhi, however, was not afraid even in the least bit.  
"Mystique? Don't you have a favorite color or two?"  
She looked up at the mention of her name and blinked a few times before coming up with an answer.  
"Well, I think... Blue is really nice..." she answered quietly, clearing her throat softly after a bit to diffuse the tension and looking down again.  
Haruhi was slightly surprised at her tone. Was this the same confident girl who shoved money at Kyoya? Who smarted off to the twins? She remembered that Mystique had said she didn't like being around a lot of people, but she had seemed so self-assured and assertive earlier.  
"That's a nice-"  
"Excuse me, ladies, for interrupting. But this is not the scheduled appointment lineup," interjected Kyoya, who pretty much appeared with no warning behind Haruhi. It was apparently a free slot in his own lineup, so he was taking a break from his laptop to walk around and make sure everything was going according to schedule.  
"I recognize that there should have been three guests here, but one did not show up. This means only Miss Kurakano and Miss Sakurazuka are allotted for this time," he explained, a blatantly fake smile plastered onto his face. Well, it was obvious to both Haruhi and Mystique, at least. Speaking of which, Mystique stared up at him and didn't say anything, but Haruhi wasn't so quiet in front of others.  
"She payed for an earlier meeting, but this is actually my last one today, so this is the earliest one left. And she could just be taking the spot of the girl who's out sick today. Frankly, as long as she gets her time, I don't see what's wrong with it," Haruhi said, looking at Mystique. "She doesn't mind, right?"  
Mystique shook her head, still staring up at Kyoya. She was still silent, but her eyes reflected anything but the shyness that was shown in her exterior. They were daring and bold, unfaltering. And she didn't look away until Kyoya turned.  
"Alright, I'll admit this is a very good point, and I will allow it this time."  
He turned back again, his smile as falsely charming as ever.  
"But I ask that Miss Mystique stay after club hours for a few... Minor inquisitions," he stated before walking back to his own seat to do some work on his laptop.  
Momoka was no longer worried about any curse or anything. In fact, she almost squealed as she turned to Mystique.  
"Oh my gosh, Kyoya never asks girls to stay after hours! You are so lucky to spend extra time with the hosts!" she whisper-shouted.  
"She's right, you know, any other girl would love to be in the position you're in!" Kimiko agreed. Momoka and Kimiko shared a sudden, loud gasp, and they leaned in close.  
"Maybe he has a crush on you!" They nearly squealed, hearts in their eyes.  
Mystique held up both her hands and shook her head, denying it vehemently.  
"I really only think it is for a financial thing," she said, making the girls in front of her shake their on heads.  
"You really need to let loose, we're just having some fun with you!" they retorted, pouting a bit. In their minds, it was very fangirl-worthy if one of the hosts were to be in some kind of sweet relationship. Well, except their crush, Haruhi, of course. Well, maybe even then, who knows.  
The club soon came to it's closing point, and all the guests left, some even to go home. Almost all of the guests, that is. Mystique still sat at the same table, finally relaxing as the last of the others were gone, until she was quite literally pounced on by a small, yet incredibly strong, figure. Who else could it be except for Honey?  
"Misty-chan, you were so cute! We saw the whole thing, didn't we, Takashi?" Mori nodded, standing nearby as always. "You talked so soft and your face got red!"  
Mystique could feel her cheeks begin to heat up at the childish boy's name for her, but she tried to keep a strait face as she patted the little blonde's hair gently and awkwardly.  
"Yes, that was amazingly cute! And the way those girls reacted to you! Oh, it was such a wonderful moment of acceptance! The lonely girl who finds a trace of new friendship within our club-"  
Tamaki made a speech out out what he saw, while the twins walked over and put their arms around her shoulders, poking her cheeks and making light of the situation. With all of them around her like that, it practically immobilized her in her seat, which made Kyoya's objective seem much easier. He came closer, black notebook in hand and his glasses pushed up, and stood before her.  
"As per my agreement with the school board, I am allowed to view the files of anyone who signs up as a guest in our club. But _only_ of those who become guests. And, up until now, I have not had a problem getting what I've been searching for. However, with you, this is not the case, as I cannot view _your_ file. In exchange for what services you received while in the club, we expect a certain amount of payment and a name. It's only reasonable, is it not? So, you are going to give us your real signature, or there may be legal consequences."  
She laughed slightly and glared at him. "Oh really..? It was under my impression that minors cannot be held to any kind of contract without parental permission. And my parents have no idea that I am here. On top of that, I did not get what I payed for. I know you do not wish to give me a refund, so here is what you are going to do. You are going to let me up, and I am going to leave. Oh, make no mistake, I will give you my name. But only after I am given what I want," she said, standing and gently putting Honey down on the ground, walking nonchalantly to the door.  
"Oh, and I will be back tomorrow. After all, I did ask for a rain check, and I am going to cash it in. But, I have someone in my limo expecting me, so I must leave. And in the words of the ever-famous host club," she turned at the door and smiled condescendingly.  
"I'll see you then."


	7. Rain Check

Hikaru and Kaoru were sitting in chairs at a hosting table, chatting away meaninglessly with the three girls in front of them and not really paying all that much attention. It wasn't that interesting of a conversation, anyway, just the same things they had heard a hundred times before and a hundred times again. Favorite this, favorite that; favorite food, favorite class. Even the hosts themselves would use the same flirtatious line every now and again! There was nothing _new_.  
That is, until _she_ came in. The one person who was never the same as anyone else in the school, the only one who didn't do things just because she simply didn't want to. And, out of all the places she could've gone, she came to the host club. The members of the host club didn't notice her standing in her own little corner of the room at first, too busy with their clients, but the girls didn't see her either, too busy with their hosts.  
It went without saying that any few who did happen to glance her way flat out ignored her. Whether out of fear or plain disinterest is up to interpretation, but the main thing is that she was alone. And that was the way she liked it; no pressure to make interesting conversation or to answer or ask questions. It was just her and her thoughts, completely alone even when around so many other people.  
When it was time for the hosts to switch clients, she quietly took a seat next to Hunny and across from Mori. The two hosts were facing the girls that were leaving the tables to say their goodbyes, so neither Hunny nor Mori noticing her silent approach until they turned back and saw her sitting there. As she looked up at them, she made it obvious she wasn't trying to impress anybody; she was slouching forward in her seat, an arm on the table and head on her palm. Hunny, of course, being Hunny, broke out in a huge grin and latched onto her other arm.  
"Misty-chan! We've been waiting to see you all day! Right, Takashi?"  
Mori nodded quietly, the only verbal cue of affirmation being a soft grunt of agreement.  
"Come on, Misty-chan, have some cake with me! We have all sorts of flavors! Like chocolate, strawberry, and lime!" he spoke excitedly, beaming up at her happily. Mystique gave a small, affectionate smile and patted Hunny's head gently.  
"Well, I guess I did promise you that I would, did I not? I think I might like... a bit of chocolate, maybe?"  
Within an instant, there were pieces of cakes all around, piled onto the table in almost comedic amounts. Hunny began to devour piece after piece, most of them strawberry, and looked up at Mystique expectantly, noticing she hadn't even touched her first slice. Not wanting the childish boy in front of her to get upset, she picked up her fork and scooped up a small bit of cake; making sure that Honey saw her eat the bite. It seemed to work, and she looked away again, absentmindedly taking a small bite every now and again.  
"Misty-chan? Don't you like it? You can have something else, if you want," Hunny said after a bit, but she only smiled softly and patted his head again.  
"Hunny, you do not have to worry about that, the cake is very good. But with you around, I do not think I need anything else that is this sweet."  
From behind her, she heard a suspiciously boyish squeal. She slowly turned and shot a glare, finding Tamaki with red and ecstatic expression on his face.  
"That was so adorable! The way you act so tough around others, but show a secret affection for Hunny-sempai's cuteness! Such an air of femininity and kindness in your eyes! I can see it now-!" His own eyes sparkled at the theater of his imagination, not paying any mind to the looks he was getting from surrounding guests.  
Mystique, however, was very well aware of the people looking at them, and was trying to (very subtly) force him to stop making a scene just by pleading with her eyes. Her own cheeks were starting to become a bit red, and she could feel the heat that was rising. There was no way she could yell at him; that would just make everyone else in the room to have an excuse to stare at her, to talk about her.  
Finding herself to be speechless, not sure if any words would help her, she stared down at her lap. Her posture was now obviously rigid, and her hair was in such a way that covered her face from onlookers. Hunny saw this and asked her the questions that were most evident in his mind.  
"Are you feeling okay, Misty-chan? It wasn't the cake, right? Do you want some milk?"  
He was trying to make her feel better, but the club guests surrounding them saw this as something to squeal at, which only made her feel more uncomfortable. Mystique refused to look up, but shook her head to answer him. He could barely hear her as she spoke next, but didn't have enough time to react before she bolted up out of her seat and ran out of the club room. Tamaki, who was in the middle of asking what was wrong, stopped mid-sentence and extended a hand out towards her as she left.  
"I don't get it... Was it something I said...?" he mumbled to himself, dropping his hand to his side as the doors to the club swung shut again. The club was mostly silent, aside from a few whispers here and there from visiting girls, for quite a considerable amount of time. Tamaki's mouth pressed into a thin line and he raised his hand into the air, snapping his fingers to alert the other club members. The other club members snapped to attention.  
"Haruhi, right now you are the only host who doesn't have any guests. And that means you are the only one of us that is eligible to go after her! From the moment she first stepped into this room, she became a guest of our club. And it is our responsibility, it is our _duty,_ as members of this host club, to make all of our guests happy. Follow her and bring her back!"  
Haruhi nodded a bit, feeling slight admiration towards Tamaki and his determination to truly bring happiness to every guest. Normally she would never take part in some kind of hair-brained scheme like she was becoming used to hearing come from Tamaki, but this was one thing she didn't mind. She took her leave and hurried into the hall. Being as intelligent as she was, she closed the door behind her and closed her eyes.  
Anyone else would've most likely just ran off in whichever direction they chose at random, but Haruhi was a little smarter than that. Quieting her breathing and listening for noises, she heard the faint sounds of running footsteps down the hallway on the left-hand side; to which she then began to run after. There were multiple times where she had to stop to get another listen because there came to staircases or more turns in the hallway. But it didn't take long for Haruhi to figure out a general idea of where Mystique was headed.  
She was heading down and out of the school.  
When Haruhi finally came to the school's exit, carelessly left ajar, she had to pause to take a breath. While doing so, she managed to catch a glimpse of her target running into the hedge maze in the school's courtyard. A small groan escaped her lips as she started towards the maze, telling herself that at least she was getting good exercise out of it all.  
She wound her way through a few passageways, this time with only guesswork to guide her, and came upon a small little rest area with a table and everything. Underneath that table, breathing as unevenly as though she'd been waiting for the climax of an intense horror movie, was Mystique. Mystique glanced up at Haruhi upon her arrival and watched as she joined her under the table, wiping away a couple of rebellious tears before looking away out of embarrassment.  
"You know, you really freaked everybody out back there," Haruhi told her. "Running off like that."  
Mystique rested her chin on her arms, her arms wrapped around her knees. "Well, you'd run away too if you knew how it feels..."  
Haruhi only watched her, seeing her in a new light; as though she were like a young child who'd gotten yelled at. "Why, then? Why did you run away?"  
"...Because they were looking at me... _Staring_... I just can't deal with it... I'm not exactly a 'people person', you know... People, they- they judge you for every little thing you do. They're always watching and prodding and if you say something wrong, there is always somebody there who's going to correct you, and- well, nevermind, it doesn't mean anything."  
"But you don't seem to mind being around me. And even around the other hosts, you seem to be pretty much yourself," Haruhi pointed out.  
"Yes, well, I can handle small groups. A handful of people at most. It is bigger crowds that make me nervous..."  
Haruhi nodded slightly in understanding and got out from under the table, holding her hand out to Mystique.  
"Come on, we can take a little walk until the club hours end and then go back. You did promise Honey-senpai that rain check, after all."  
Mystique took her hand with a faint smile finding its way to her lips, coming out and standing with Haruhi. A few moments of silence followed before they let go of each others hands and began to walk together through the roses. Minute after minute flew by as they explored the beautiful maze, each feeling a bit of disappointment when they realized it was about time they should get going back to the club.  
They walked the halls together, maintaining a comfortable silence throughout the duration of the long walk to the music room. There weren't any people walking the halls (besides them, of course), but it wasn't fear of being heard that kept them quiet; they'd become comfortable enough around each other that words weren't necessary to set them at ease.  
When they finally reached the host club room, the doors were closed. They each knew the room wasn't empty, however, because the voice of the host king had the uncanny ability to travel through walls. Haruhi reached for the door handle, but was stopped by Mystique grabbing her wrist gently, yet firmly, to stop her. She looked at the other girl, a bit confused, but Mystique kept her gaze fixated on the door.  
"Before we go in, Haruhi, I just want to say... Thank you for listening."  
Haruhi began to smile, retracting her hand from the door. Mystique let go of the female host's hand before grabbing the handles. With a deep breath in and out, she slowly opened the doors and looked to the ground when she saw each of the other hosts' eyes land on her. Tamaki came up to the two girls, a serious look on his face at first. But his inner Tamaki was soon let loose and he hugged her tightly.  
"Oh, my darling Haruhi brought my precious daughter back to me!"  
Mystique froze in his arms for a minute before pushing her way out of his tight grip. She looked past him and made eye contact with Hunny, whom was so delighted to see her back that he practically bounded over to her. With a tight grip on her arm, he tried to tug her over to one of the tables.  
"Come on, Misty-chan! I saved your seat for you and I even saved your cake!" He paused. "Well, actually, I ate it... But I can get you another piece of the same kind!"  
The school's clock tower struck the hour and Mystique looked out the window with a soft sigh.  
"You know, I would love to sit with you and everything, but I am afraid I really cannot stay here. Sorry, Hunny..."  
Hunny then began to pout with a sad look in his eyes, prompting Mori to pick him up and bring him to the dessert table. The twins narrowed their eyes at her, giving an identical look to each other, having expected something like that would happen. Kyoya opened his mouth to point out that they still hadn't come to a conclusion on the whole name thing, but was cut short when Mystique lifted up her hand to shut him up.  
"Look, I know this is not exactly an ideal thing and nothing has gone as planned so far. But time is time, and mine is limited, so I really cannot stay. Another rain check?"  
Before anyone could even bat an eyelash, Mystique turned swiftly and walked out of the room; her footsteps soon fading into silence.


	8. A Little Peek

Mystique glanced up at the school building as her limo sped off, not bothering to look behind her at the driver as they did so. All the windows were tinted anyway, so she wouldn't've been able to make him out in the first place. There were other students flooding into the building, paying her no mind as they ran to find their friends or rushed to finish their homework assignments.

She walked through the entrance and handed in her homework assignments, grabbing the new ones and slipping them into a single folder in an otherwise empty school bag. After repeating this process with all of her classrooms, she made her way to her morning area. Many said she was never in the same place twice, but the truth was just the opposite. In fact, she was always in the same places every day. They were just places students didn't normally go into.

In the mornings, she would go into a grand closet on the second floor's eastern hallway. When she'd first found it, it was a normal closet; unorganized and uncomfortable, full of regular closet supplies and discarded classroom items. But Mystique didn't go to another place. Instead, she had spent her first school morning moving things around to her liking.

Opening the closet door, she looked at the meticulous placement of everything with a proud little smile. She remembered how the table had been on its side behind a few trash cans with a broken leg, and how she'd leveled it with some raggedy textbooks. Making sure to close the door behind her, she made her way to the back and slid under the table, popping up on the other side and sitting in a little nest of books.

Leaning against a wall as she propped open an old book she was halfway finished with, she looked over the words fondly. This was they way she preferred everything to be; the only people around her being the ones in the books she surrounded herself with. She could read them over and over, getting to know each character like the back of her hand, and she could get close to them without getting hurt. The comforting feeling of books eased her mind and allowed herself to completely immerse herself in the story.

That was where she remained for the first two classes, but then she grabbed her things and waited by the door until all footsteps were gone; after which she would go to the black magic club room. It was before Nekozawa would be there, but she enjoyed the unique atmosphere the empty club room gave. Reading by the candlelight was a true delight in her eyes.

And from then until the free period before lunch, that's what she did. In the free period, Nekozawa's club activities began. Sometimes she would continue to read, and sometimes she would help her friend with some dark magic things. She actually found some things to be quite interesting.

From there, she would go on to eat her lunch on the roof. The open air, the feeling of freedom, the sounds of nature; a paradise inside a prison. It was as silent as she wanted it to be- until the twins came, that is. And then they started to bring along Haruhi. This was still such a new thing in her life that she would sometimes forget her noontime visitors. It wasn't that she despised their presence, it was just that she had been so used to her homeostasis system that it was still a bit new to have such difference in her life.

When lunch ended, the three hosts would say their goodbyes and then go onto their classrooms like the rest of the students. Mystique, however, would remain on the rooftop and clean up her lunch and then do her homework assignments that she'd taken earlier in the day. If she finished before the last period of the school day, she would slip her things inside her bag and head back down to the closet until her day finished. If not, she would finish and then usually head into Nekozawa's club room until her limo came for her.

Halfway to the room, as she was thinking about this typical schedule of hers, she realized she had a choice to make in this last step of hers. Her eyes fell on the sign that read "Music Room 3" and she shook her head, telling herself she was crazy for going back to such a madhouse, before going to the open door and peering inside. There were a few girls inside, quite a lot less than usual, but she still paused at the door.

 _You don't need this,_ she told herself as she went in, _you could leave right now if you wanted to._ But her legs wouldn't turn themselves around, and she went over to Kyoya, who was without customers at the moment, and looked away as he looked up. From the corner of her eyes, she could have sworn she saw him flash a smirk, but it was gone in an instant.

"Well, isn't this interesting. I didn't expect you to be back so soon after yesterday's little... episode," he said, pushing his glasses up with a sly smile.

"I do not need to explain myself to you, Ootori," she retorted before taking in a deep breath. "I just do not like having debts with people, and it appears I need to cash in a couple of rain checks..."

"Are you saying you're willing to finally answer some questions?" Kyoya was very interested in the prospect of finally getting information out of her.

"Oh, keep it in your pants, Ootori..." she mumbled. "All I am saying is that I am going to go sit with Honey to fully cash in the first one, and then I might be willing to answer some questions after the club hours end."

Kyoya could feel a little heat rise up into his cheeks from her first remark, but he kept his cool. He pointed his pen over to where Honey and Mori were sitting, surrounded by cake as always. He then watched as she strode off, shaking his head and opening his black notebook.

Mori and Honey were sitting opposite each other at a table for four, and they currently hadn't any guests, so she sat down between the two of them. Honey, of course, was elated that she came by again, and Mori was just happy that Honey was happy. He enjoyed her company as well so far, but his ultimate loyalties were to his cousin.

There wasn't much conversation between the trio, but Honey more than made up for the other two at the table. And this time, there were no interruptions to take her away from her appointment. There wasn't anything extremely special or mind-blowing that Mystique was exposed to, but she felt content with the way things were progressing with the two older hosts.

The end of the session came much too soon for Mystique's liking, and the club was to end in just a few short minutes. Although she considered leaving, she figured that if she did try to leave, Kyoya or the twins would keep her from doing so. She was beginning to think that she probably should've just denied that she'd give them any information, which would have saved her a lot of time.

Anyway, the time soon came for all guests to leave the host club's room for the day. All except for, of course, Mystique. Almost the second the other guests had set foot on the other side of the large doors, the entire club was surrounding the mysterious classmate. Which, of course, made her feel uncomfortable and a bit annoyed from how close they were. Her gaze fell on Kyoya, who had his black notebook open and ready to write in.

"It's about time you told us some things about yourself. You got what you asked for, so it's only fair that you would return the favor, is it not?" He pushed up his glasses with a glaringly obvious fake smile.

Mystique heaved a sigh and rested her cheek on her fist, elbow on the table, and shrugged.

"If you say so," she murmured. "But that counts as your question. What would the rest of you like to know?"

"Misty-chan, Misty-chan! I have a question!" Honey piped up excitedly, eyes sparkling. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Like a sister or two~?" Hikaru and Kaoru added, each winking at her, which prompted her to roll her eyes at them.

"I am sorry, but I do not have any . And even if I did have a sister, I would not let you two touch her. Anything else?"

They feigned hurt expressions, but got over it very quickly, while Honey seemed satisfied with the answer. Grins slithered their ways onto the twins' lips as they each looked at Mystique, coming up with a question of their own.

"How do you feel about cosplay?" they inquired simultaneously.

"As in... How do I feel about others doing it or how do I feel about doing it myself?"

The twins glanced at each other and nodded before turning to look at her again.

"Yes."

Mystique rolled her eyes again before answering.

"That really would depend, I suppose. I mean, I would be fine cosplaying as an anime character I like or a video game character, but you would not find me in some stupid, pink, floppy, Easter Bunny looking costume. As for other people? I don't mind it, really, I think people can look really niceif they do it right."

"Does that mean you'll cosplay with us sometime here at the club~?"

"Hey, did you never go to a party as a child? Everybody gets a turn before anyone can go back for seconds, so be quiet and let someone else ask something."

"But-"

"No. That cosplay question counted as two because there were two parts and you both asked it. So deal with it, princesses, and let someone else ask something. Someone?"

It was practically silent, except for some quiet snickering from Haruhi, for what felt like minutes. Honey raised his hand again and waved it around wildly.

"Misty-chan, I've got another question! But it doesn't count as a second one 'cause it's from Takashi!" he exclaimed when Mystique looked at him. "Takashi wants to know if you have any fighting experience, like kendo or something"

Mystique looked up at Mori, whose expression was just as blank as ever, but he was looking at her as if he really were asking it himself. She gave a small shrug and tapped a couple of fingers on the table.

"Well, I am not sure if it counts, but I used to wrestle with my male cousins from time to time when we were little. I wanted to join a karate club across the street from my old school, but my mom wanted me to be more girly and stuff. Because, you know, knitting lessons are going to be _so_ useful if I ever need to defend myself..."

She cleared her throat slightly and shook her head at her rambling.

"Anyway, did that answer your question?"

Mori nodded with a slight grunt of affirmation; Honey beaming happily as he jumped up onto Mori's back.

Mystique fixed her gaze to focus on the remaining hosts; Tamaki, Haruhi, and Kyoya. Kyoya was writing who knows what in his black notebook, Haruhi was sitting across from her and acting just as she normally would, and Tamaki looked like he was about to explode if he didn't say something.

"Mystique, I can't stand it anymore! How is it that a father could not know the name of his own daughter? It's unheard of! It's unforgivable! Absolutely dreadful! So, please tell Daddy-" he took her hand in his and leaned in uncomfortably close to her face with sparkling eyes, "-what is your name?"

"Well, that is an interesting question... And phrased even more interestingly... Let us see..." She leaned back in her chair, a smile playing at her lips. "A name is a word or set of words by which a person, animal, place, or thing is known, addressed, or referred to. So, I suppose I have quite a few names. At this school, my name is Mystique. At my one of my old schools, this, uh, girl I used to know called me Layla. I do not know why, really, but that was my name there. So anyway, as far as you are concerned, my name _is_ Mystique."

Tamaki's face reddened to match that of a tomato and gripped his hair tightly in his hands, yelling in frustration from her roundabout way of answering his question. It wasn't any words, really, more of an unintelligible screeching noise. He eventually faded out and descended into a dark corner, where he began to sulk and pout.

"Oh, I, um... I am sorry for making you upset, Tamaki. Mystique is what I am used to hearing here at school now, so I am comfortable with it. Besides, I actually... kind of... like it when Honey calls me 'Misty-chan'," she said, scratching the back of her head awkwardly with a small smile. "Anyway, I guess that just leaves the last question; Haruhi?"

Haruhi had no real questions on her mind. She shrugged slightly, as if to say she had no idea what to ask, and so Kyoya gave a small smirk. If she wouldn't ask one, then he figured that he would take the chance to ask a real question.

"If Haruhi won't ask, then I suppose I'll take over the last question. While your ability to avoid names is quite impressive, I doubt you'll be able to so cleverly avoid answering this question. What is your family's main business or main businesses?" Kyoya was practically going to interrogate her.

Mystique's composure suddenly changed; she sat rigid in her seat and her fists became clenched, her casual glances becoming an icy glare directed at Kyoya.

"Oh, you think you are so clever, Ootori...?" she grumbled quietly. "If I will not even tell you my first name, what makes you honestly think I would I ever give you information about my family? Because you think you have trapped me in a question corner? My answer is that _their_ business is none of _your_ business. It should be obvious I do not want to talk about those things with you. So you know what? This little meet-and-greet is officially over. I have to go anyway..."

She stood and grabbed her bag, pausing to rest her hand gently on Honey's head reassuringly, and headed to the door. Haruhi stood up as well and went over to Mystique, grabbing her arm just as she opened the door.

"Now, wait just a minute, I still get to ask a question."

Mystique glanced at a clock before nodding, feeling as though she owed her host friend that at least.

"My question is... Will you come to the club again tomorrow?"

At first, Mystique didn't know how to respond. But she soon nodded again slowly.

"Fine... I guess another visit could not hurt, right? I do not have time to pick a host, and I know you like to have everything figured out, so just surprise me tomorrow, okay? I am sorry, but I really do have to go," she said, walking out of the room and hurrying down the hall to get to her limo in the front, leaving the club room with a few moments of silence following her exit. Until...

"Nice going, Kyoya, I still had more questions to ask!"


	9. Beware the Physical Exam! Part 1

Mystique made her way to the host club room like she had promised after the previous day's antics, ready to find out who the hosts had placed her with. She was a bit surprised to find that the room was, in fact, empty of any and all life. All that was there was a sign that simply stated that the host club activities were to be outside in the garden that day.  
With a sigh of slight annoyance, she made her way back through the hallways and back down each flight of stairs. If it hadn't have been for the fact that she told Haruhi that she would be back, she swore she _wouldn't_ have come back. Especially since she didn't particularly think a host club would be worth this much trouble on her part.  
When she finally found her way to the area all the hosts were mingling with their guests, she froze when she saw they were all in some sort of waiter cosplay or something. It didn't take long for her to shrug it off and ignore that fact. Without further delay, she walked up to Kyoya (because she figured he was the one who took care of scheduling and things such as that), who was currently writing things down and calculating costs instead of being with a guest or two.  
"Hey. Ootori. Do you mind telling me which of the guys I am supposed to hang out with today? You guys were supposed to choose for me this time," she said, partially disinterested in her own words.  
Kyoya looked up from his notebook, and Mystique already felt a sense of dread in the back of her mind before he even started to speak. He glanced back down at some sort of list and pushed his glasses up before returning his gaze to her.  
"It appears that the other hosts have selected you to be my client."  
Mystique felt her stomach drop, and she stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and a sort of "why me" factor.  
"Don't look at me like that, it wasn't my idea for this to happen and I don't know why they chose me. Personally, I had chosen for you to go with Tamaki."  
She raised an eyebrow at that last comment.  
"What, do you have a problem with me, Ootori?" she inquired, crossing her arms as she glared up at him,  
"I never-"  
"Oh, hush, I was not serious. Just do whatever you usually do and we can pretend that we had a lovely time together. If it were not for Haruhi, I would not even bother with this."  
Kyoya gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head, looking back down to his notes and calculations.  
"If you don't want to sit here with me, that's fine with me. Since we already have money left over from your earlier request, it makes no difference to me whether you talk to me or hang around another host. I don't believe you nor I have anything else to gain at the moment."  
"Oh, wow, such a charmer. Tell me how you really feel," Mystique mumbled, sarcasm lacing and dripping off every word as she sat down in front of him, crossing her legs. "But I do not think that is true. Not having anything to gain, I mean. For instance: I gain the satisfaction of knowing I am bugging you. And that makes me, more or less anyway, happier. Which in turn means you have made a guest happy. And that, of course, means you have done your job. See? Something was gained for each of us."  
Kyoya looked up from his notes and stared at her for a few seconds as she looked up at all the cherry blossoms. For a moment, he thought he could see a small smile on her face, but any traces of that joy disappeared as soon as she saw he was looking at her. She gave him a look of confusion, and he only looked away without a word. She kept looking at him for a moment or two, expecting him to say something, but she soon found herself looking back up at the cherry blossoms.  
"All beauty is fleeting..." she whispered, watching the petals of a blossom fall to the ground, fluttering in the wind. The path they took led her gaze back to Kyoya, who she found was looking at her again.  
"What was that?" he asked, referring to what she'd whispered.  
"Oh, um... _'All beauty is fleeting'_..." she answered, cupping her hands around a loose blossom. "Soon all of these vibrant flowers are going to wither and fall away, like in that poem by Robert Frost. Nothing gold can stay."  
He kept looking at her for what seemed like forever before closing his eyes and pushing up his glasses, exhaling a single, soft chuckle. He was about to make his own remark when they both suddenly heard Hikaru shout his brother's name, causing them both to stand and head towards the source of the sound. Mystique's eyes were firmly set ahead of her as she was going to investigate, but Kyoya found himself glancing at her as they came to Hikaru and Kaoru's spot.  
What they found was Hikaru and Kaoru doing one of their "brotherly love" acts for the ladies they were entertaining. Kaoru was on the brink of tears and blushing, his finger in Hikaru's mouth. Hikaru looked into his twin's eyes and pulled his mouth away barely just enough that he could speak.  
"Honestly, Kaoru... You have to be more careful..." he murmured. "From now on, keep your eyes on me, okay?"  
Mystique could guess what had happened, but wasn't all that impressed with what was happening. She couldn't help thinking that only watching Hikaru could make things worse; not watching what he was doing and all. And she thought that the girls around them seemed more interested in their embrace than they were concerned about Kaoru's burn. In fact, she thought they didn't really seem to care past the fact that Hikaru was sucking on Kaoru.  
"Aw, I can't take it! It's too overwhelming!" One of the girls in front of the twins was looking away, apparently a bit overcome with emotion.  
"No, you have to keep watching! Who knows when it'll happen again?" The other girl was trying to motivate her friend to keep on looking.  
"You are absolutely right, mademoiselle," Kyoya interjected from behind the two ladies. Mystique honestly hadn't even known he'd moved.  
"All beauty is fleeting," he continued, gently holding onto a small branch with a fair few blossoms on it. "Just take a look at these cherry blossoms. You'll never get to see them this vibrant again."  
"That's why..." he had a small smile playing at his lips as he took a moment to 'admire' the small flowers, "I've compiled this photo book which contains the pictures of the beauty of each passing day."  
His hands had left the branch and one was now holding up a picture book featuring a picture of the twins on the cover page. Soon he was holding up several books, with pictures of the other hosts (including himself, of course).  
"Incidentally, I've collected pictures of all the hosts. If you would like to purchase all four of them, I'll discount the full set for you."  
"I'll take one!" exclaimed the first girl from before, wallet at the ready.  
"Me too, please!" the second girl agreed, almost in the same position as the first girl.  
The twins and Mystique didn't seem very amused, but Kyoya appeared proud of himself as the girls immediately started looking through the books.  
"Well, at least now we know how the club gets extra money," the twins said together.  
"But I have to wonder..." Hikaru started, looking over to his brother.  
"When did he start taking pictures of us?" Kaoru finished.  
Mystique grabbed Kyoya's arm and tugged on his shirt with a slight glare.  
"You little thief.. Do not think I did not catch you using that 'beauty is fleeting' line on those girls."  
"Thief? On the contrary, you never laid claim to the phrase. The rest of what I said was my own, as well. And besides," he flashed her a smile, "I thought it would be a much better benefit for me rather than simply making a guest happy. I do that well enough already without your help."  
Mystique rolled her eyes and walked away, knowing she couldn't do anything about it anyway. She glanced curiously over the shoulder of a nearby girl to look at the pages in one of the photo books. The girls were ecstatic with them, but Mystique just scoffed under her breath and called the photographer an amateur. She soon became disinterested and wandered over to where Haruhi was. Not even a moment later, Tamaki appeared behind them, facing away from them for whatever reason.  
"Haruhi, Mystique," he addressed them. "How are you doing? Are you having a good time?"  
Neither of them responded; Haruhi kept her straight face and Mystique just looked away boredly.  
"The flower reception is going quite well!" he added, not really bothered by their lack of conversation. He then looked over to the pair, mostly focusing on Haruhi,  
"But even so, it's rather daunting to spend more time being admired than doing the admiring."  
Haruhi sweatdropped and Mystique rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.  
"Wow, Senpai, you're blooming in more ways than one..." Haruhi told the blond, now looking at him.  
"You noticed!" He moved himself into some sort of dramatic pose and seemed to sparkle.  
"Yes, today my beauty is quite splendorous. I'm in full bloom!" he continued. "I bet you'll fall for me soon~"  
Mystique only looked at him as he winked, Haruhi's head lowering in annoyance as her eye twitched. The twins popped up and slid their arms around Haruhi, knowing it would make their Host King mad.  
"So Haruhi, have you decided your elective courses for this term?" the twins inquired.  
"How about Conversational French?" proposed Kaoru.  
"I don't know..."  
"The three of us should take it together! It makes perfect sense..." Hikaru added, disregarding Haruhi's disinterest.  
The twins turned to look at Tamaki with a devilish grin, a flash in their eyes.  
"After all, we are in the same class," the twins finished together, triggering Tamaki to make a substitute "emo corner" next to a tree.  
Mystique shrugged a bit and sat on the other side of the same tree, looking up at the cherry blossoms above her. She could almost imagine the branches and flowers above her becoming a world of their own, and she felt herself relaxing. Tamaki, on the other hand, was anything but relaxed.  
"Say... Mommy, dear?" Tamaki piped up.  
"What is it now..." Kyoya paused from writing in his notebook. "..Daddy?"  
Just the tone of which he said "Daddy" made Mystique begin to snicker softly under her breath, moving herself so she could clearly see the both of them.  
"I have a new theory. I mean, it's only my hypothesis, but it seems by being in the same class... Hikaru and Kaoru are able to spend more time with Haruhi than I do at the club!"  
"Tamaki... You just now realize that?" Kyoya responds calmly, Tamaki acting like he got struck by lightning.  
Mystique rolled her eyes as Kyoya pulled out a couple of pie charts from who-knows-where. One pie chart was labeled with "Twins' Contact with Haruhi" and the other was the same only with Tamaki in place of the twins.  
"According to my research-" he pointed to the charts, "-In a single day, the twins spend roughly nine hours of class time with Haruhi. Meanwhile, your contact with her is only a couple hours of club activity. In other words, your involvement in her life is a mere three percent," he concluded.  
" _I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it!_ " he nearly screamed. covering his ears with his hands.  
He ran over to Haruhi in an instant and grabbed her by the shoulders, looking down at her frantically.  
"Listen up, stop hanging around those shady twins from now on!"  
"Who are you calling shady!?" Hikaru called out, upset.  
"Yeah, take a look at yourself, Boss!" Kaoru added on.  
Tamaki pulled away from Haruhi with a slight gasp, stumbling back a bit.  
"Yes, that's it!"  
Mystique was watching silently nearby, secretly amused by the antics and actually a bit glad she decided to come.  
"Alright then, we can't go on hiding the fact that you're a girl from everyone any longer!" He looked at though he was crying waterfalls as he clenched one of his hands into a fist. "All Daddy wants is for you to go back to being the girl you used to be! To surround yourself with girlfriends and live a wholesome life!"  
"Who are you calling 'Daddy'...?" Haruhi mumbled before Tamaki grabbed her shoulders again and began shaking her.  
"So do it! Change back right now! Change right now!"  
"There's no need to rush things~" Hikaru interjected in a slight sing-song voice.  
"Physical Examinations are the day after tomorrow," Kaoru said, completing the explanation.  
"Physical... Exams?" Haruhi asked. Mystique shuddered slightly at the thought.  
"Ah, that's right. I'd forgotten all about them," stated Kyoya.  
"Then that means.. There's no doubt. They're going to know that I'm really a girl," Haruhi realized, some of the other hosts getting upset as the thing they too realized was spoken out loud. They could no longer deny it; their little secret was going to be exposed.  
"Wow, like it was so hard to tell before..." Mystique mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes. The hosts slowly turned towards her, about half of them displaying new signs of shock. They hadn't noticed that an outsider of their secret was around to hear them.  
'Boss, what should we do?" Hikaru asked, looking at Tamaki.  
"She knows about Haruhi!" Kaoru agreed, also looking at him.  
"Do? What do you mean 'do'? I have known she was a she since the very beginning. Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of life what gender someone is..." She crossed her arms. "Besides, who do I have to tell? I do not exactly have friends lining up for me to tell secrets to. It is not even my secret to tell, and despite what you might think, I care about whether Haruhi can pay back her debt to you weirdos or not."  
The clock tower struck and Mystique looked up, quickly grabbing her bag.  
"Sorry, if you have something to say, it is going to have to wait until tomorrow. I have to go!"  
She ran out of the garden to the front of the building. The hosts could see the limo in the parking lot that Mystique slid into, and just watched as the limo sped off. Even if they'd wanted to go stop her, they doubted they could have convinced them to stop.

 _~And they waddled away (waddle, waddle) till the very next day~_

It was the next day and the club members were all inside the club room. Well, all of them plus Mystique and minus Haruhi, anyway. Haruhi was in the bathroom or something most likely, and the twins had dragged Mystique with them. They were still suspicious that she might tell somebody about Haruhi. Tamaki, meanwhile, had been in his own little world; staring off into space.  
"He must be having a good daydream," Honey pointed out.  
"It's kind of creeping me out.." Hikaru admitted, watching Tamaki as well.  
"Envious, Hikaru?" Tamaki queried, suddenly awake from his daydream. He stood and positioned himself in front of the group. "Yes, this is all part of my strategy! While you wasted time being blinded by jealousy, I've foreseen the outcome of this situation!"  
Mystique blinked.  
"This anime is obviously a romantic comedy! Haruhi and I are the main characters! So that means we are love interests."  
"Yeah, then what are we?" the twins asked, unamused.  
"You boys," he began, a hint of deviousness behind his smile, "are the homosexual supporting cast. So please," he began to draw a line on the floor of the club room between them all, "Make sure that you don't step across this line!" he finished proudly.  
"You've gotta be kidding..." the twins grumbled in perfect sync.  
"Listen Boss," Hikaru began.  
"I don't think you get it," finished Kaoru.  
"If word gets out that Haru-chan is really a girl, then she won't be able to be in the host club anymore!" Honey agreed, explaining it to Tamaki. "But," he added, "if Haru-chan started wearing girls' clothes, I bet she'd be even cuter than she is now!"  
Mystique crossed her arms a bit, not wanting to argue with Honey, but couldn't help thinking that Haruhi could just become their first female host. That would bring in a whole new market for the club to sell to, which could potentially double their profits and still allow Haruhi to pay back her debt.

"Hey, Haruhi dressed up as a regular girl back in middle school, right?" Hikaru spoke his mind out loud. "She must have been popular with the boys."  
"Yes. According to my research, someone would declare their undying love to Haruhi at least once a month," Kyoya stated matter-of-factly.  
"So in that case, the boss wouldn't even be able to get _close_ to Haruhi," Kaoru thought out loud; Tamaki turned deathly pale at this.  
"But we would be able to because we're in the same class as her all day long," Hikaru agreed.  
"No way..." Tamaki whisper-sobbed, not wanting to believe it.  
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Haruhi announced as she finally came into the room.  
Tamaki was by her side in a flash, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her yet again.  
"Don't worry, Haruhi! We're determined to keep your secret! No one will know you're a girl during tomorrow's physical exam! So promise that you will stay our beloved secret princess!" he shouted at her, prompting Haruhi to blink a couple of times.  
"Sure.." Haruhi said, not aware of all that had been happening before she came in.  
"You know, I think both of us would be peeved if we had to watch all the boys flirt with her," Hikaru mentioned, looking at Kaoru, who agreed.  
"Then that settles it," he (Kaoru) said as they took out a white board where they started making the plans for 'Operation: Conceal Haruhi's Gender' or 'Operation: I swear Haruhi is a boy!'  
Mystique zoned out, not finding any of the "technical talk" to be even a bit interesting. Instead, she just pulled a book from seemingly nowhere and began to read. Only when she heard clapping did she look up, only to see the twins saluting and Honey doing the clapping, so she looked back down to her book  
"I got it!" Haruhi suddenly said, raising her hands and planting her fist into the palm of the other. "You guys are worried that if they find out I'm a girl, then I won't be a host anymore to repay my debt! Let's see..." She began calculating in her head. "My balance is about 5 million, 333 thousand, 332 yen..."  
Mystique looked up again when she hear that amount and stared at Haruhi, now beginning to wonder how much of a debt she really was in with all of them.  
"I guess I'll have to find another way to pay you back," she finished, not seeming too worried by any of it.  
"Hey, do something, Boss! The subject doesn't appear to have any motivation!" the twins demanded Tamaki.  
"Why did we have to get stuck with such a difficult heroine...?" Tamaki asked himself with a groan, eyes closed and hands trembling.  
"Hey! Are you saying that you hate being a host!? That you hate this club!?" Tamaki shouted at Haruhi,  
"To be honest, I'd have to say yes," Haruhi answered without hesitation. It made sense to Mystique, seeing as Haruhi was only a host because she was forced to be. Tamaki, meanwhile, was shocked and began to sulk in his 'emo corner of ultimate woe'.  
"I mean, you guys aren't bad, but if it gets out that I'm a girl, then there's nothing I can do, you know?" Haruhi added.  
"She doesn't seem to care one way or the other!" Hikaru pointed out.  
"Well, before we do anything else.. We've got to motivate her," Kaoru stated.  
It became silent as the hosts began to try and think of something that could catch enough of Haruhi's attention that she would be willing to stay with the host club. Mystique was sort of curious about what they would come up with, wondering if it would actually be something incredibly clever or incredibly dumb sounding. She saw a flash in Mori's eyes and knew he'd come up with something.  
"Fancy tuna." Straight and to the point.  
Haruhi froze and Mystique just became confused. Tamaki, however, turned around to look at Haruhi with a creepy gleam in his eyes with a scary looking grin on his face.  
"That's right," Tamaki said, drawing out the last syllables slightly. "You didn't get to have any in the last episode, did you?" Again, he dragged out the last syllable in a way that made Mystique shudder as he stood.  
"Did you hear that? Haruhi's never eaten fancy tuna before..." Hikaru whispered, purposely loud enough for Haruhi to hear.  
"Wow, talk about a hard childhood," Kaoru whispered back.  
"If only she'd stay in the host club, then Haru-chan would have the chance to eat all kinds of yummy things whenever she wants," Honey added, looking at his bunny, Usa-chan.  
"What are you talking about, " laughed Haruhi nervously. "Don't be silly! Just because I'm poor and have never had it doesn't mean I'm so much of a glutton that I'd go fooling everyone about my gender just to try some fancy tuna..."  
She saw the look on all the hosts' faces and knew she'd been defeated, and she knew they knew too.  
"...Am I really gonna get to try it..?" she asked, looking away slightly. The hosts were victorious!  
"So, uh... Mystique, are we going to see you there?" Haruhi asked, trying to get the attention off of herself for at least a moment.  
"Of course I will be there. Mostly to make sure that there isn't any funny business going on with any of the doctors..." She nearly hissed out the word. obviously not taking a liking to the idea of doctors being around. "I will be hanging around you the entire time, so that way you will have a bit of an escape if one of these numb-skulls mess up when trying to convince everyone you are a male."  
"Oh..." Haruhi said with a small nod, beginning to smile. "Thanks. "

~To Be Continued~


	10. Beware the Physical Exam! Part 2

~NOW!~

The next day was the day they'd all been preparing for; the day of physical exams. Haruhi, the twins, and Mystique were walking down the hallway together towards where the exams were to take place.  
"What do they do during physical exams here at Ouran, anyway?" Haruhi inquired curiously, obviously never been to a rich kid's school for a physical exam.  
"It's no different than a physical exam you'd get at any other school," Hikaru replied.  
"Yeah. Why would physical exams you'd get be different from us just because we're rich?" Kaoru added, speaking like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
Mystique glared slightly at the twins, in no mood to deal with them, and barely kept herself back from cursing at them in her mind. _Because you're rich and can afford more stuff, you idiots..._ she thought. But Haruhi was more willing to believe it.  
"Yeah... You're right. I never thought about it that way," Haruhi mumbled as they came upon the door. The door opened and there was almost a blindingly bright light, which, when Mystique's eyes adjusted to the lighting, faded to reveal rows of horror. A seemingly endless row of male doctors on one side and another seemingly endless row of female nurses on the other side

"Welcome, students!" they all greeted in perfect unison.  
Mystique repressed the urge to glare daggers at them, feeling a bit angered by their sickly-sweet attitudes. She kept her eyes on the ground so she didn't have to look at them. _They're too nice_ , she thought. _Acting on a pay to care system.  
_ "Wh-What is all this?" Haruhi asked, feeling intimidated and overwhelmed by it all. There was so much difference between this and what she had gotten used to at her old schools.  
"Just another physical exam," Hikaru answered, walking in nonchalantly.  
"The usual," Kaoru agreed, following Hikaru into the room.  
"The usual..?" Haruhi mumbled under her breath, looking over at Mystique to see if she'd be any help. But she only saw dark clouds above her friend's head.  
"Uh, Mystique? Are you gonna be oka-"  
"I am fine. _I_ am here for _you,_ not the other way around. We should just go, okay?" She glanced over to Haruhi and started walking as soon as she saw her nod. "The sooner we get in, the sooner we can get out..."  
They found their way back together with the twins, but a couple of nurses popped up in front of their small group almost right afterwards,  
"Excuse me, Hitachiin brothers, please follow me this way to get your height measure."  
One nurse spoke while the other curtsied politely. Haruhi sweat-dropped and Mystique just clenched her fists.  
"Sure thing," they answered together, finding none of this as strange, and walked off with their nurses.  
"Mister Fujioka?" came a voice from behind Haruhi. "I will be your nurse for the physical exams for this afternoon.  
"O-okay..."  
"Please," the nurse said, grabbing Haruhi's hand and starting to walk away, "Come this way."  
Mystique began to follow the two, keeping a watchful eye on all the doctors and nurses around them. She didn't want to be there for two reasons, the doctors and all the people, but she didn't want to leave Haruhi to be exposed even more so.  
Along the way to wherever the nurse was taking them, the two noticed Mori and Honey dressed up in lab coats and glasses. Mystique figured they were pretending to be doctors, but they stood out so much that it made Mystique question whether she was actually seeing it or whether it was her mind playing tricks on her.  
"Honey-sempai? Mori-sempai?" Haruhi questioned, clearly confused, only to have them both raise their fingers to their lips to shush her. "They're so obvious..." she mumbled.  
"I got those two for backup.. In case something happens," Kyoya told the two girls. He came to them, still holding his little black notebook.  
"But... Why are they in doctor disguises..?" Mystique questioned quietly, looking back over at the two so-called 'doctors.' Haruhi nodded in agreement, having been about to ask the same thing.  
"They're just helping set the mood. Disguises make our operation feel like a real espionage mission," Kyoya told them as he pushed up his glasses.  
"Wow, Miss Shiramine! You've lost two whole kilograms since this time last year!"  
Mystique, Haruhi, and Kyoya looked over to see a bunch of nurses clapping for a slightly chubby girl on a scale with a doctor in a chair in front of her. The girl was extremely excited and relieved.  
"That's so good to hear! I thought for sure I was heavier!" Shiramine exclaimed, pressing her hands to her cheeks.  
"Not at all. Keep it up and you'll be even healthier next year! Good work!" the doctor told her with a smile.  
"Don't you think it's weird that these doctors are all so jovial and nice?" Haruhi asked, a bit weirded out by the doctors attitudes.  
"They're chosen by the school's chairman. This may be a school, but it's also a business," Kyoya explained. "Therefore, he wants to keep the students happy. After all, most of the students that attend Ouran Academy come from profit families that have their own private doctors at home. So, this... is just a formality."  
The group was just beginning to move along again when a strange man in a worn out lab coat brushed against Mystique then bumped into Kyoya. They turned to look at each other. The man had shaggy, possibly greasy, longish hair that partly covered his eyes.  
"I'm... terribly sorry..." The man waited to see if his apology would be accepted and Mystique and Kyoya stared at the man for a few seconds. Well, for Mystique, it was more of a glare.  
"No problem..." Kyoya mumbled, watching as the man then turned and walked away. "Huh..."  
Along the way to where the nurse was taking Haruhi, they spotted a group of girl gathered in a group near the twins.  
"Hitachiin brothers," one nurse began, "would you please undress behind the curtains? We're ready to take your chest measurements. You can use the area behind this curtain to undress."  
"Doesn't matter to me," Hikaru argued, already pulling off his shirt.  
"We're not shy, who needs a curtain?" Kaoru agreed, pulling off his shirt as well, causing the girls in the crowd to scream and squeal.  
"See Haruhi?" Kyoya asked. "A rather impressive turnout today. The physical exam days are quite popular with the ladies."  
Mystique just rolled her eyes. _It's not like they're buck-naked,_ she thought _. What's the big deal? Wow, they have chests, I'd never have guessed!_ Even she noticed how extremely sarcastic and critical she was being in her mind. But, at this point, she didn't really care. She was just watching the twins.  
"I won't allow it... It's just not fair... I won't allow those doctors to touch you, Kaoru!" Hikaru said, reaching for his brother in a homo-erotic, loving way. He was definitely the possessive one in their relationship... Or their act, at the very least.  
"What are you talking about?" Kaoru chuckled softly. "You don't seem to have a problem with touching me when we play doctor at home... I can't get you to stop tickling me and toying with my body..."  
The girls in the crowd began to scream again, crowding closer around the twins; who were continuing to touch each other.  
"Come on, Haru-chan!" called Honey as he and Mori pushed her along to one of the curtained changing areas. "This way!"  
Mystique followed them to the area, but one of the female nurses stepped in front of her with an apologetic smile.  
"I'm sorry, but there are to be no females behind the curtains when there's a male disrobing. That's just one of the rules to keep things orderly."  
Mystique didn't say anything, but rolled her eyes and turned around. "Whatever..."  
The twins came over to Mystique and turned her around, wrapping their arms around her shoulders, Hikaru poking her face and Kaoru just grinning.  
"What's the matter, sour-puss? Girls are usually into the doctor and showing skin stuff," Hikaru teased, Mystique trying to swat his hand away. But he just poked her cheek again each time, a bit harder, so she quit.  
"But don't worry, just look over at the curtains and watch the show. It ought'a cheer you up," Kaoru added. "Trust me."  
"Mister Fujioka? Are you ready to be measured now?" Haruhi's nurse asked, glancing at the curtain while Haruhi's fans waited in impatient anticipation. The curtains opened... Only to reveal Tamaki with an unbuttoned shirt and brown wig on.  
"Yes. I'm... Haruhi Fujioka."  
It was so obvious to everyone around him that Mystique couldn't help but smile, lifting her hand up to her mouth to block her laugh. The girls who were waiting to see Haruhi began to start questioning what was going on.  
"Wait, that's Tamaki, that's not Haruhi..."  
"There's no denying it, that's Tamaki."  
"Is he trying to cosplay as Haruhi?"  
"What's going on, is he trying to be funny?"  
Hikaru and Kaoru couldn't hold it in anymore; they started laughing so hard tears were coming out of the corners of their eyes.  
"I can't believe he actually did it!" Hikaru exclaimed, holding onto his stomach.  
"They recognized him! I told you they'd see through it!" Kaoru laughed, on the ground and slamming his hand on the floor.  
Tamaki was so embarrassed that his entire face was a bright shade of red and he ran over to the twins, beginning to choke Hikaru out of rage.  
"You jerks! You said that there was no way the girls would be able to tell that it was me!" he yelled at them angrily; Hikaru holding his hands up in defeat to show his surrender, still laughing.  
"It's payback for calling us the homosexual supporting cast!" Hikaru said through his choking, grinning all the while. Tamaki released Hikaru and went back over to the curtains and Haruhi, calmed down a bit after he realized he'd have to tell her that he'd failed.  
Mystique sighed softly, no longer laughing, and watched as Tamaki left. She was about to sneak her way into the room when someone grabbed her shoulder, causing her to turn. One of the doctors there was standing next to her with his hand on her, staring down at her with one of those smiles that all of the other doctors seemed to have.  
"Miss Mystique? I've been searching for you for quite a while. I'm going to be your doctor for today."  
Mystique glared up at him. "Remove your hand before I bite it so hard not even these other doctors will be able to do anything about it..."  
The doctor pulled his hand away in surprise, apologizing and putting his hands to his sides as a precautionary measure.  
"I'm sorry, but I'm supposed to take your measurements-"  
"No. You will do no such thing... Here is all the information you will need," she said, pulling out a packet with papers in it and shoving it into the doctor's chest, much like she did to Kyoya the first time they met. "You'll find that the chairman and I have an understanding. So leave with this and be done with it..."  
The doctor left with only a slight bow and nothing more.  
After the twins pulled themselves together, they walked over to Mystique and brought her with them over to where Haruhi and everyone else was. But when the nurse refused to let her in again, still saying no females were allowed, they stayed just outside the curtains with her. But, since curtains aren't exactly brick walls, they could were able to hear some of what was being said on the other side.  
"-set up a separate room for you; a 'special boy's' clinic," came the voice of Kyoya. "And I have the doctor standing by sworn to secrecy."  
The curtains opened, showing the others and allowing Mystique and the twins to see inside.  
"It turns out the doctors here today are all on staff at one of Kyoya-senpai's hospitals," Hikaru mentioned, shrugging and looking at his twin; Kaoru mirroring his actions.  
"It would've been nice if you'd have said something sooner," Kaoru said to Kyoya, who smiled cooly and adjusted his glasses.  
"I had to get my revenge, too, you know. I'm sorry," Kyoya explained, "I just don't think I'm supporting cast... Homosexual or otherwise."  
Mystique instantly snuck away from between the twins and moved to Haruhi's side as she started heading towards the room Kyoya told her about. Haruhi looked back slightly while walking and blinked when she saw Mystique walking with her. She only nodded while looking forward.  
"Well, here we are. You sure you want to come in with me instead of just... Leaving? I mean, you don't really seem to like it here."  
"I am staying..." she answered, reaching out and knocking on the door for Haruhi.  
"Come in."  
Haruhi opened the door and came in, Mystique following and leaning against the door as she closed it.  
"Hello, Mister Fujioka. I've been made aware of your situation. If you wouldn't mind, please disrobe over there," the nurse said, gesturing to yet another changing curtain. "And, Miss, if you would please wait over there-"  
But Mystique had already gone to the other side of the curtain with Haruhi. She stood next to her with her arms crossed, looking away respectively as Haruhi began to take her shirt off.  
"Excuse me...?"  
Mystique looked over to Haruhi and saw she was looking towards the curtains. She followed her gaze and saw the same doctor that bumped into Kyoya sneaking into the changing area. He turned around and his eyes widened in slight fear when he saw the two girls, especially since one was in the middle of changing. In an instant, he ran over to them and covered their mouths.  
"Please stay quiet! It's not what you think!"  
Mystique glanced over to Haruhi to see if she needed to do anything, but Haruhi was just staring at the doctor.  
"Haruhi!" came the voice of Tamaki. "Tama-chan; _KICK_!"  
Tamaki sent the doctor flying into the wall with a kick to the head.  
"One: Looks that attract the public eye," announced the twins, coming into view.  
"Two: More wealth than you can imagine..." Kyoya stepped out from the shadows.  
"Three: Chivalry that will never be able to overlook-" began Mori, it being the first time Mystique had heard him speak.  
"-The hideous wickedness of this world," finished Honey as Tamaki placed his own shirt over Haruhi to cover her up.  
"That's what makes up... the Ouran Host Club!" declared Tamaki.  
"We're here... Watch out!"  
The doctor bowed on the floor apologetically.  
"Please don't hurt me! Spare my life! I'm a doctor. I have a small emergency medical clinic that I run in the next town over. My name is Yabu.." the man told the club members around him. Suddenly it was his life story.  
"Did he just say his name is Yabu?" interjected Hikaru.  
"That's crazy; what a terrible name for a doctor," criticized Kaoru.  
"Unless you're a quack," they said together.  
"I know.. You see, I'm here because I was hoping to find my daughter. My wife left me last month and took my daughter with her, but... I know she attends school here," Yabu continued.  
"Why'd they leave?" Mystique asked bluntly, not actually very interested, but willing to feign it.  
"Well... I'm terrible at managing our money," he explained. "I can't say no to anybody. I don't blame them for being tired of contantly living in debt... But I wanted to see my daughter one more time... So I came here; after being pelted by rain and wandering the street, I finally made it to your school. Once I entered, I was mistaken for a doctor here to examine students."  
"Well, of course. You're wearing lab coat," Hikaru pointed out.  
"Anyone would mistake you," Kaoru agreed.  
"And then it happened- I asked a girl here about my daughter, but the girl started screaming! And before I knew it, there were all kinds of people chasing me!" Yabu cried.  
"That's so tragic!" Tamaki sobbed slightly, obviously taken by his story.  
"Mr. Yabu, I think you have the wrong place," Kyoya told him. "Are you looking for Ouran Public High School?"  
"Yeah, that's right."  
"I figured that might be the case. This is Ouran Academy, a private institution. You daughter doesn't go to school here."  
Yabu froze with shock at this.  
"Man, that's pretty said. You don't even know what school your daughter goes to," Hikaru began.  
"I bet your relationship is messed up because you don't pay attention to her, not because of some stupid debt," Kaoru finished.  
"Wow, Kyo-chan! I'm impressed that you figured out that he had the wrong school!" Honey exclaimed praisingly, everyone now turning to the cool-natured host.  
"Well, there's no way the daughter of such a small-time doctor... would ever be able to get into Ouran Academy," he explained, not thinking much of it.  
"Kyoya," Tamaki began, looking intently at Yabu, "...Would you please find a map of all the public schools in this area? I would like to help this man find his daughter."  
Kyoya was a bit surprised at first from his request, but soon smiled. "Whatever you say."  
 _~After the map is found and Yabu is on his way~_  
"Are you sure about this?" Hikaru questioned Tamaki as they all watched the doctor leaving from the window.  
"After all, even if he does find his daughter, there's no guarantee that she would want to talk to him," Kaoru told him.  
"Well, that's something he has to find out for himself.." Tamaki answered softly, still watching the doctor walk away. A few moments of silence passed before Haruhi decided to speak up.  
"I'm sorry guys, but can you please leave?"  
Tamaki (along with the twins and Honey) gasped out of shock and worry. "Haruhi? Are you still mad at me? You're not quitting the host club, are you?"  
"Don't be silly, Tamaki-sempai," Haruhi reassured him.  
"She does still have an exam to do, you bunch of weirdos..." Mystique mumbled, gesturing to Haruhi, who was still wearing Tamaki's shirt.  
"As a male student, of course," Haruhi added with a smile. "But I'm not doing this because you're bribing me with food. I'm doing it to pay back my debt!"  
"You are so cute! I can see right through you! You're only doing it for the fancy tuna, but it's okay because it's so cute!" Tamaki exclaimed, suddenly reaching out and hugging her tightly.  
"Knock it off, Sempai!" she yelled, trying to push him off while chiding him. "Hey, don't touch me there!"  
"Red card~!" The twins called out together.  
"Looks like Tamaki-sempai-" Hikaru grinned.  
"Is the real pervert!" Kaoru laughed.  
Eventually, Mystique came over to Tamaki and pinched his hand, allowing Haruhi to slip out of his grip. Tamaki yelped in pain, but Mystique let go of him and patted his hang gently after Haruhi was back in the changing area.  
"Alright, you have had your fun and saved the day, now let the doctor do her work," Mystique ordered, pushing Tamaki toward and then out the door with a surprising burst of strength. Honey hummed happily as he hopped out the door, Mori following him closely. The twins looked at each other and shrugged, finding themselves to be getting bored, and walked out together without arguments. Kyoya walked out last and turned to Mystique, who was waiting by the door.  
"It usually isn't permitted for one to 'skip out' on physical exams, you know."  
Mystique rolled her eyes and looked up at him with a slight grin.  
"Aw, does _Kyo-chan_ want to know my measurements?" she teased.  
Kyoya stiffened and cleared his throat, shaking his head as he readjusted his glasses so that Mystique could only see a glare off them.  
"That's not what I meant, and you know it. And please," he sighed, "Don't call me that."  
"I know you did not mean it that way, _Kyo-chan_ , but you are fun to annoy," she responded, ignoring his request, and stepping back into the changing room and closing the door. She waited until she heard Kyoya's footsteps go away before she went over to the curtains.  
"Haruhi, I am coming in, it is just me," she said before coming in and leaning against a wall. "All of the guys are gone, so you can finally get your exam done."  
"Oh, hey. Thanks," she said, taking off Tamaki's shirt again. "But are you sure you're comfortable being in here with me?"  
"We are both girls; there is nothing new to either of us. Besides, I said I would stay until your exam was over. Afterwards, though, I will be leaving school." She closed her eyes as Haruhi continued to get ready for her exam. "I have had more than enough school today. But, uh... There was something I was wanting to ask you..."  
Haruhi paused and looked over to Mystique. "Oh? What do you want to know?"  
She tilted her head to the ceiling as she opened her eyes.  
"It has been a long while since I have had a friend around so I was wondering if you wanted to... hang out this weekend?" she asked, her cheeks getting a little flushed. "I mean, I can pick you up so I can meet your dad and stuff..."  
Haruhi laughed a bit and nodded. "I mean, it's a bit awkward being asked right now, but I have no problem with it. I'm sure my dad won't mind, either."  
Mystique sighed in relief and smiled slightly as Haruhi went out to get her exam done. Meanwhile, Mystique took out a pen and found a blank sheet of paper, writing something down and waiting behind the curtain. Haruhi soon came back to get dressed again and Mystique again waited patiently. After everything was done and they both were leaving the room, Mystique gave Haruhi the slip of paper.  
"This is my cell number. If you or your dad would like to talk to me about setting things up or cancelling the plans, you can reach me here. But, uh... Just make sure the King of Shadows does not find it, okay? I do _not_ need Ootori tracing a call to where I live."  
Haruhi nodded and put the paper in her pocket. "You and me both."  
Mystique thanked her before walking off towards the nearest exit, making sure to avoid the doctors.  
"See you then," Haruhi mumbled, her too walking off.


	11. Weekend Plans

It had been a normal day at the club, but it was now after business hours. Mystique was the only non-host in the room, but she was being quiet, so not even Kyoya said anything to make her leave. The sounds were many yet not diverse; the strokes of laptop keys coming from Kyoya, the scrapes of fork-onto-plate from Honey with Mori silent as ever, pages of a book being turned by Haruhi, and the scribbling of a pencil coming from Mystique. Even Tamaki was sitting in a corner, daydreaming quietly, and the twins were starting to get fed up with the silence.  
"Hey, Mystique, come over here," Hikaru commanded, motioning for her to come to him with one of his hands. He and Kaoru were sitting on the couch across from her.  
"Now why would I do that?" She hardly glanced up at him before continuing to do what she was doing, not sounding at all interested in holding a conversation.  
"Because we're bored, that's why," Kaoru answered, resting his head on his palm.  
"Then why not hit each other over the head or something?" she retorted, "I am busy."  
"Oh really? Doing what?" they asked, slinking over to behind the couch where Mystique was sitting; one on either side of her and both looking down at the notebook she was writing in.  
She calmly closed it upon their movement, looking up at the two redheads and blinking slowly, no expression evident.  
"Figuring out how many years the two of you will go without girlfriends, what is it to you?" She looked forward again, patiently waiting for them to leave so she could continue writing.  
The twins pretended they were offended for a moment and come close to each other, hooking their arms around each other's waists. They were about to do one of their brotherly love acts in an attempt to guilt trip her but noticed she wasn't even paying attention to them anymore. This made them 'tsk' and move around the couch so they were standing in front of her, hands on their hips and staring down at her.  
"What on earth would we need girlfriends for when we have each other?"  
"Unless.." Hikaru began, sporting a sly smirk and leaning closer to her. He placed one hand on the couch beside her head and tilted her chin up to make her look at him with his other hand as she leaned back to stay away from him. "You're offering?"  
Mystique narrowed her eyes and was about to tell him just how much that wasn't going to happen when she felt her notebook being swiftly pulled away from her hands. She tried to push past Hikaru to grab for it, but could only do so much as he held her back, and saw Kaoru open it. A slight panic filled her as she tried to wrestle away.  
"Give that back, you little punk!"  
The twins snickered and ignored her, Kaoru beginning to look through the pages, not even taking the time to skim while he tried to find the most recent page.  
"Hey, Hikaru, I think this might be a journal; there's so much stuff written in here. Ah, here's the page she was just writing in!" His eyes scanned over the pages. "...Hikaru, I think she's going out on a date or something. There are times and places written here, look," he showed the notes to his brother, who was still holding Mystique back (who was currently debating whether it would be worth it to bite Hikaru's arm).  
"Aw, does Mystique want to go out with her special, secret, boyfriend this weekend?" Hikaru teased, relishing in the reddening face of his little captive. "And look, Kaoru, at the very end it says 'Show Home.' I think she's taking her boyfriend to her house. Maybe we should come along for a little... extra fun?"  
They continued to make fun of the things she had planned, asking her if they could meet her date and what all they'd be doing until Mystique had finally had enough. She bent down and stood up abruptly, knocking her head into Hikaru's chest, which surprised him enough to let her slip away from him. Then she swiped the notebook away from Kaoru and closed it, gripping her fists tightly and glaring at the two of them. Her face was still a bright red, and she was clearly infuriated with them.  
"I am not bringing a guy to my house, you idiots..." She kept her voice down as so not to draw unwanted attention from the other hosts, but her tone of voice somehow seemed scarier than it would have been if she'd have started yelling. "And before you bother asking, I am not telling you who I have plans with. Oh, and the next time you think of doing something, I suggest you do the world a favor and just do not. Instead, why don't you go get a refund on the filters between your minds and your mouths because, obviously, yours don't work."  
She stormed away and sat next to Haruhi, who smiled a bit as she continued to read. Mystique held her notebook close to her chest, her cheeks slowly returning to their normal skin tone, and peeked over Haruhi's shoulder to see the words on the pages of Haruhi's book. The twins were left standing in the same places, taking a minute to process what had just happened.  
"What's her problem?" Hikaru huffed as he sat down, casting a glare over to Mystique. "We were just playing with her. She doesn't have to get all upset about it, we were just toying with her!"  
Kaoru shrugged and sat next to his brother. "I guess she's embarrassed about her new boyfriend or something."  
Hikaru scoffed and rolled his eyes. "What weirdo would want to go out with a girl like her?"  
Kaoru gave a sigh and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Who knows, that girl's crazy..."  
They both soon started to smile and looked at each other, each apparently thinking of the same idea.  
"If she won't tell us what she's doing..." Hikaru mused, keeping his voice low so that no one else could hear and glancing over to Mystique.  
"Then we'll just have to find out a different way..." Kaoru finished, sharing the evil look in his brother's eyes.  
Mystique slipped her notebook beneath her lap and leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling and silently letting her eyes follow the intricate patterns until her eyes began to feel heavy. It truly was a slow afternoon, even when the club had been open, and she'd been up for most of that night. Try as she might fight off sleep, she soon succumbed to the sweet embrace of slumber. Which, in a room where the twins were present and on a mission, was slightly dangerous and more than a little unwise.  
Hikaru and Kaoru saw their chance and moved in front of the couch where Haruhi was still sitting and reading.  
"Hey, Haruhi," Hikaru greeted in a soft, low voice; making sure that Mystique wouldn't wake.  
"We have a question for you," Kaoru added, keeping just as quiet as his brother.  
Haruhi looked up from her book and blinked uninterested, not wanting to bother with the two of them. "And I might have an answer for you. What do you want?"  
"Do you know who Mystique is going out with this weekend?"  
"Maybe."  
The twins waited expectantly for her to tell them who it was, but she only looked back to her book and hoped they would be satisfied and leave. It was not enough for them, of course, and they didn't move away. Instead, Hikaru slowly pulled the book out of Haruhi's hands and lifted it into the air to make her look back up at them.  
"Come on, you should know that we want more than that. Who is it?"  
"Why should I tell you?" she questioned, reaching for her book.  
Hikaru passed the book to Kaoru, who held it farther away from her.  
"We just want to know who it is. Tell us, and we'll leave you alone."  
Haruhi glared up at them for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing.  
"And what makes you think I know about it?"  
"Well, the two of you are best friends or something, right? Isn't that what girls do with each other, talk about guys?"  
It was Haruhi's turn to roll her eyes. "I don't know, it's not even a date. She's just having a sleepover with a friend of hers. Are you happy now?"  
She stood and grabbed her book, sitting again. Just as she opened it, however, Hikaru put his hand on top of the pages before she could start reading again.  
"...You're kidding, right?" they asked, a bit confused as to why Mystique would have been so defensive and secretive if it was only something like that... And what friend she'd have to have a sleepover with.  
Haruhi made a small, annoyed sound and shook her head. "No, I'm very serious. A friend of hers is staying over at her place this weekend. Are you satisfied? Can I get back to reading now? Some people do have to study, you know. We are in a school, in case you've forgotten."  
The twins seemed to be pleased enough with her answer this time and finally left her alone; mostly so they could discuss some things away from possibly curious ears. Haruhi didn't think much of telling them and soon pushed the thought into the back of her mind.  
Tamaki, however, had been snapped out of his daydream when his Haruhi-senses began tingling. He had seen the twins talking to his beloved 'daughter' and had snuck over to where he could hear their conversation, and had heard just enough that he was able to figure out what was going on. His mind, slightly similar to that of the twins, began to come up with ideas to use that information for his own personal gain. It didn't take him long to notice that Haruhi wasn't paying attention and Mystique, being fast asleep, couldn't hear them.  
He hurriedly gathered the other male hosts out of earshot of Haruhi and began to whisper-yell at his friends, trying to be quiet but his spastic side trying desperately to show itself. He had a gleam in his eyes that practically screamed the word 'scheme', and he had a devilish grin on his face that accentuated his confidence. Kyoya and Mori didn't particularly convey any real emotions at the moment, but the twins and Honey were very interested in what their King had to say.  
"Alright boys, we have a mission ahead of us. I've just learned that Mystique is going to be going out to do 'activities' with someone this weekend! I think we should follow them to see what kinds of things they do together. Because, after all," he paused to chuckle slightly at his own brilliance before continuing, "we, as a host club, will be able to learn more about the kinds of 'activities' that girls like her are interested in. We could cater to a whole different selection of young women!"  
Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and then at Tamaki.  
"Boss, we all know you just want an excuse to spy on her and see who she's with," Kaoru said.  
"But do you even know where they're going to be? And when?" Hikaru questioned, letting a smirk slowly plant itself on his lips. Tamaki paled a bit when he realized they might have to follow her for quite a while before they'd actually get what they'd be looking for. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but that made for a lot more opportunities to be caught.  
"Oh, what, like you do?" he retorted, the twins grinning in response.  
"Oh, yes," they answered with a coy purr, "We do."  
"We, uh, just happened to see her plans," Hikaru added, giving Kaoru a knowing glance. "And we also just happen to remember where they're going and when. But, before we tell you, in order to make things a bit more interesting, how's about we turn this into a game?"  
"...A game?" Tamaki was hesitant to accept.  
"A game."  
"What sort of game?"  
"We all go spy on them to the best of our abilities, but if you get caught, then you lose. Whoever can spy on them the longest wins!"  
"Why would I do that? What's in it for me?"  
"Oh, nothing really... Except if you don't, we'll convince Nekozawa to put a curse on you," Kaoru threatened.  
Tamaki let out a loud gasp of horror, turning a deathly shade of white. "You- You wouldn't!"  
"Maybe, maybe not... But are you really willing to risk it?"  
Tamaki let out a soft sigh but knew he wouldn't, even if he was about 70% sure they wouldn't actually put a curse on him, so he agreed.  
"Alright, then it's settled... Let the last man standing win!"  
The day ended as slowly as it seemed to begin, and the hosts all went their separate ways.


	12. Out on the Town Part 1

**A restless night followed an uneventful day, and Mystique's eyes were open before her alarm even rang. When it finally did let loose its annoying clangs, she let it continue for a good while before she slowly raised her hand and slapped it down onto the off button. After letting her hand slide back down, she gradually slipped herself out of bed. Her bare feet barely made a sound against her wooden floor and she stretched her arms far above her head, letting out a loud yawn.**

 **She dragged her feet as she shuffled into her bathroom, ready (however begrudgingly) to start the day. Her morning schedule was nothing particularly glamorous, but she didn't care. A quick shower, brushing her teeth and her hair, and throwing on her clothes for the day; that was all her mornings consisted of. And if she was feeling up to it, maybe a light breakfast. She wasn't much of a morning person, but she wasn't completely opposed to them.**

 **After doing her usual routine, she started down the stairs. Halfway down, she cussed under her breath and turned back up; heading up to grab her cell phone. It was a touch screen, naturally, as she had practically no use for an actual phone. She rarely ever received calls, and most of those were wrong numbers, telemarketers, or scammers anyway. So she mostly used it for games, although she would be bored with them after the first few days of playing them.**

 **With her phone securely in her hands this time, she made her way down the stairs once more and stared down at the screen. She could remember that as a kid she would slide down the banister all the way to the bottom, but walking was fine enough for her now. She went down to the kitchen, actively avoiding anyone who was up and about in the house, and grabbed herself a piece of bread to make herself some toast. She hopped up onto the counter and grabbed a jar of peanut butter, hardly a need to look up, her gaze still fixated on her device.**

 **There she sat, on the counter, and waited for her toast to pop up. She didn't pay much mind to anything happening around her. Persuaded off the counter by staff only after her toast was toasted to just the way she wanted it to be, she grabbed her ingredients and went to the table to make her favorite morning delicacy- peanut butter toast. Once upon a time, she would've used her fingers as a spoon, but she'd much rather have the taste of breakfast than finger-y peanut butter.**

 **She made her way back up to her room, still playing games on her phone boredly with one hand and carrying her breakfast in the other. She put her toast onto her nightstand and flopped down onto her bed. Eventually, she tired of her games and turned the phone off, resting her arms on the bedding and staring up at her ceiling. It crossed her mind that she could simply take a nap and waste the day away, but she felt something nagging at the back of her mind. It seemed to her like she was forgetting something; something important.**

 **Worming herself over to the edge of her bed, she reached down and blindly groped for her planner to see if she'd made any plans for the day. She skimmed through the pages to find that specific day, and her eyes scanned through her own handwriting until her eyes landed on three little words: 'Day with Haruhi.'**

 **"Crap!"**

 **She scrambled off her bed and threw open her dresser drawers, grabbing her phone again and dialing Haruhi's home phone number as she searched for a pair of socks. She mumbled to herself as she listened to it ring and fumbled around for her hairbrush. When someone finally picked up, she pulled on her socks and smiled as if the person on the other side of the line would see her.**

 **"Hello, Haruhi, I am sorry-"**

 **"Actually, this is Haruhi's father. Can I... Help you?"**

 **She paused for a second, dropping her smile, before continuing to get ready. "Oh. Yes, hello, Mr. Fujioka. I am... I know Haruhi from school, and we had established plans to go out around the town today."**

 **"My Haruhi? Out on the town? Hmm... Ah! You must be that new friend she told me about! Yes, yes, Mystine, was it? No, that's silly... What was it? ...Misty! Wait, Misty? That can't be right, either. Uh... What's your name again?"**

 **"Yeah, sir, that would be me," she said, only half listening while trying to be polite. "Anyway, Mr. Fujioka, I am afraid I will be a bit late in picking her up, but I promise I will be there soon."**

 **"I'll make sure Haruhi knows, then, what's-your-name. I'll be seeing you then. But seriously, what's your-"**

 **She hung up without allowing him to finish his sentence and sighed. Shoving her feet into her boots before clopping down the stairs, she began calling for one of the staff members to drive her over to Haruhi's. There were only a few moments of silence before she heard one of the cars pull up. A small smile grew across her face, knowing she could have even the most ridiculous request done with a snap of her fingers.**

 **She hopped out of the car almost the instant it stopped, and she looked around to try and find which apartment was Haruhi's- repeating the number '203' to herself over and over until she found the room she was looking for. With three knocks and some patience, she found herself face to face with Haruhi.**

 **"Are you... Ready?" she asked. peeking behind Haruhi, spying her father standing a bit further away in the room and watching the two of them.**

 **"Sure, let's go. Where were you thinking of heading to?" Haruhi either didn't notice her father's hovering or just didn't care.**

 **"Oh, you know... Around. I was thinking maybe we could go to a nearby park or a playground."**

 **"Really? You want to go to a playground?"**

 **"Never mind, just come on, we have a lot of daylight to burn."**

 **They descended the stairs after a quick goodbye to Haruhi's father and began walking into town.**

 **Haruhi showed her around a few places, introducing her to the different things she liked to do and/or go to. Mystique nodded along, not really seeing anything of much interest until they came upon a little bookshop. It was quaint, but she found it quite charming and was drawn to it. She convinced Haruhi to go in with her and started a conversation about books and reading. Neither one of them paid much attention to the small group of people already shopping around in the store, nor to any others who happened to come in. The two were completely immersed in each others company.**

 **"You like to read, right? What about that book I saw you reading in the club? Maybe we could find something like that in here." Mystique asked, picking up a book and skimming through a couple of pages.**

 **"Book..? Oh, that was just for my literature class. I have to read a book and write an essay over it in a couple of weeks. I was getting a head start on it so I could focus on other things," she explained, looking around at the bookcases.**

 **"I see, I see. Then forget about that book, what kinds of books do you like to read for fun?"**

 **"I don't know," Haruhi said, sighing as she pulled a book off a shelf. "I mean, I barely have any time to just sit down with a book, even if it is a good one. I have too much stuff to study, y'know? It's not like I don't like them, it's just that I've got to focus on my textbooks rather than make-believe stories."**

 **Mystique shook her head and flipped open another book, looking over the pages. "I can respect that, but I prefer it the other way around. Studying is nice enough for, well, studying, but I like to live vicariously through those fantasy worlds. I would much rather live in the what these authors create than I would here. Wasting away the majority of my life in schools and then in the workforce... You can do anything you want to in a book, though. It is funny, you know? Words are limited to the pages on which they are written, yet they still hold more freedom than the real world."**

 **Mystique's face held a small smile on it, and she didn't notice the lingering eyes of her friend on her. Haruhi couldn't help but laugh a bit after a few seconds, putting the book back on the shelf after finding it less than interesting. "Is that why you've always got your head in the clouds?"**

 **"My head is not always in the clouds," she argued, still flipping through pages absentmindedly, occasionally looking up and around at the other people in the shop. She could almost swear she felt eyes on her, and it was beginning to make her uncomfortable.**

 **"Oh, come on, I see you around the school. You've always got your nose in some book. Even in the club, you're usually reading before and after visiting. Sometimes during."**

 **Mystique felt her face grow a bit warm and she silently closed the book in her hands, heading to the counter and purchasing it. She tied the handles of the bag around her wrist, thanking the cashier before heading back to Haruhi.**

 **"Well... Never mind all that." A smile began to form on her lips. "Would you like to do something fun before we leave?"**

 **Haruhi just blinked and shrugged. "Well, that would depend, I guess. What did you have in mind?"**

 **Mystique brought her finger to her lips with a slight grin, grabbing Haruhi by the wrist and pulling her to the mystery section of the store. She grabbed a few books and started flipping them around so the titles were facing the shelves.**

 **"Mystique, I'm not sure you should be doing-"**

 **"Oh, come on, Haruhi, please? They are mystery books anyway. What could be the harm? This way every book really is a mystery."**

 **"Well..." Haruhi was unsure of what to do, and only stood back and watched Mystique do what she was doing.**

 **After she was finished she stood back and gave Haruhi such a proud smile that she couldn't find the heart to say anything about it. It seemed like she was having fun, and Haruhi didn't want to ruin it for her. But she didn't want to get in trouble, so she grabbed Mystique by the wrist and pulled her towards the exit of the store, not paying any mind to the other patrons in the small shop.**

 **"Why don't we go find something else to do now? I'm kind of over the books right now."**

 **Mystique nodded and allowed Haruhi to lead her to wherever she wanted to go, figuring it was Haruhi's turn to choose a location since she had dragged her to the bookstore. Haruhi brought her to the supermarket, looking around to see if there was anything on sale. Mystique was averse to this at first, but kept it to herself, wanting to give it a chance.**

 **"So, the supermarket, huh?"**

 **"Yeah. It's a pretty nice place, right? They've always got some sort of sale going on. Maybe the two of us could find something to make for dinner together when we go back to the house," Haruhi suggested, picking up some produce to compare, already thinking of dinner options. "I mean, we've got plenty of time and we don't have to buy it all right now, but we could figure out what we want based off of what they have and then come back later before we head back to my place for dinner."**

 **Mystique nodded quietly, looking at a few packages herself. "So, this is your idea of fun. I guess you like to cook, then? What kinds of things do you like to make?"**

 **"Oh, pretty much everything. My mom used to make the best dishes for me and my dad. Now I do the cooking, and I like to have fun with it like she did. It's really relaxing, and it's really fulfilling when they come out well."**

 **"Oh, that's... Nice." Mystique looked at Haruhi through the corner of her eyes before looking back down to the meat in her hands. "I've never cooked anything more complicated than a scrambled egg before. But, I'd like to try to help you out. If that would be alright, that is."**

 **"Sure. Do you have anything in mind for dinner? Any favorites?" Haruhi kept her eyes on the items in front of her, comparing prices in the back of her mind.**

 **"Not really. But, if I had to choose something? I've always wanted to try... Oh, what was it? A pork cutlet bowl, I believe."**

 **"...A pork cutlet bowl?" Haruhi looked at her with a slightly incredulous expression.**

 **Mystique's cheeks became a bit flushed and she picked up another item, pretending to find it rather interesting. "What? Do you not like them? We can make something else if you-"**

 **"No, no, I like them well enough. It's just that I thought you'd want something a bit more... fancy. You know, for your rich and refined tastes or whatever."**

 **Mystique gave a crooked smile and a slight laugh, looking at her friend. "What did you expect me to ask for? A large blue lobster served with a side of escargot and caviar?"**

 **Haruhi began to crack a smile as well and shrugged, scratching the back of her head. "Well, yeah, actually, something like that. Doesn't it sound like something someone at that rich kid school would ask for?"**

 **"Ah, I don't blame you. Pretty much everything I've ever eaten has been of the finest quality. I mean, seriously, some of the food is so expensive for only getting a small amount of it. A small cube of meat with a leaf of something to garnish it. Everybody knows it's not filling but you pretend it is because that's what you're supposed to do..."**

 **"Anyway, if we're making pork cutlets, you'll definitely be full when I'm done making it." Haruhi smiled and held up a couple of pork meat packets that happened to be on sale. "You won't get a small portion from me. Not with these prices."**

 **Mystique nodded and began to walk along the meat aisle slowly, listening around for some hushed voices she could almost pick up, feeling the same feeling she had had earlier in the bookstore. She couldn't see much out of place except for the split second she thought she saw a head of blond hair dash into another aisle.**

 **"Mystique?"**

 **Mystique turned her head slightly to Haruhi while keeping her eyes in the direction she was looking at. "Hmm?"**

 **"Now that we know what we're going to have later, we should go out and continue to go around town. We've been out for a total of maybe twenty minutes."**

 **"Yeah.." mumbled Mystique, finally turning fully to Haruhi when nothing else caught her eye. "What were you thinking of doing?"**

 **"Well, if you still wanted to go to a park like you mentioned earlier, we could go there at the end of the day before we go to my place. It doesn't have a playground or anything, but it's got trees and grass and benches."**

 **Mystique gave a brief nod and the two headed out of the store. Haruhi was taking mental notes about the various foods on sale for later; Mystique was keeping an eye out for whoever was following them. She had an idea of who it could be, but she wanted to make sure before jumping the gun. Not noticing the lack of attention from Mystique, Haruhi brought her into another store, albeit much smaller than the supermarket.**

 **"Why don't we take a look around and see if there's anything interesting here? It may not be all that pricey, expensive stuff you rich people get, but there's some good stuff here, usually."**

 **"If you say so."**

 **Mystique looked around at the various objects and knick knacks lining the shelves of the aisles, Haruhi walking beside her and skimming her eyes over the same shelves in faint disinterest. The shelves had no backs to them, so the items and walkways on the other side were visible. Mystique paused in front of one shelf to look at a small gemstone dolphin that happened to see- but it wasn't the only thing that caught her eye. On the other side of the shelf, she caught a glimpse of a figure, which darted quickly out of sight. Her eyes narrowed as she watched for the figure to return before she began to walk the aisle again, soon catching up to Haruhi who hadn't noticed a single thing.**

 **"Find anything you like?" Haruhi asked, looking up from some little trinket in her hand.**

 **"Not yet. Although there are quite a few interesting things around here in this shop."**

 **"Oh yeah? You should get something before we go, then. I mean, it might not be fancy or whatever, but some of this stuff is kind of neat."**

 **"You know, not everyone who comes from a wealthy background is as materialistic as you seem to imagine," Mystique responded, picking up a snowglobe and shaking it vigorously with both hands. "Granted, many definitely are. But, personally, I do not care whether an object is one of a kind or mass produced. Not everything I fancy is... Fancy."**

 **She lifted up the globe and looked at Haruhi through it, watching the snow dance around the image of her friend. "Have you found anything you like?"**

 **Haruhi shook her head and looked back to the shelves. "Not really."**

 **Mystique put down the globe and paused, grabbing a small toy crown off one of the shelves. "Haruhi, who do I remind you of?" she asked, putting the crown on her head and making a dramatic pose. Haruhi began to laugh, knowing she was poking fun at Tamaki, and shook her head slightly.**

 **"You're really having fun, aren't you?"**

 **"That was the point of coming here, yes," Mystique answered, placing the crown back onto a shelf. "Are you not?"**

 **"Oh, no, I didn't mean that. I just never thought that this would be your kind of thing, that's all."**

 **Mystique shrugged slightly and began looking alongside Haruhi as they slipped into another aisle in silence. As they were browsing absentmindedly, she again began to feel eyes watching her. Her patience began to run thin and she gripped her fists tightly, flashing glances behind her and catching a glimpse of various shadows. They disappeared in a flash. But they were soon replaced by another head of hair that was trying to sneakily see if she was still looking, which she was. Each time she felt the hairs stand on the back of her neck, her teeth slowly began grinding.**

 **"Haruhi."**

 **Haruhi turned her head to the side slightly but kept her eyes on the shelves. "Yeah?"**

 **"Do you ever feel... Watched?"**

 **"...Why?"**

 **Mystique meerly kept her nonchalant disposition as she walked back over to Haruhi.**

 **"Oh, no reason in particular. I was just wondering. Let us change the subject. The host club, for instance. They are an integral part of your school lifestyle now, and they will be until you can pay back that little debt of yours. You must have some feelings towards them by now."**

 **Haruhi put a finger to her chin as she thought about the answer, but couldn't think of any definitive answers. "I mean, not to be rude, but they can be the poster children for ignorant rich people sometimes."**

 **Covering a small snicker of amusement behind her hand, Mystique shook her head. "Oh, but you are thinking of them as a collective. I mean individually. As in... How you think of Tamaki by himself. Or Kyoya."**

 **"I don't know, I guess... My answer is the same. I haven't had much time with them one on one. They are a club, after all. And even counting club hours, I haven't really gotten to know them. That's like me asking you the same thing."**

 **"Alright, alright, I suppose I can see where you are coming from... Let me ask you one more thing: If you fulfilled your debt, would you still come back the next day?"**

 **There was a moment of silence between the two, Mystique slowly looking at the ceiling with baited breath before turning to Haruhi again. Haruhi was staring at her, causing her to look back up to avoid eye contact.**

 **"To be honest, I don't think I would. If I pay off my debt, they'd have no reason to keep me as a host. And I'm definitely not going to be one of their guests. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with it, it's just not my thing, you know? Anyway, that's enough about them. I thought you wanted to hang out without the club. If that's the case, what's the point of bringing them up every minute?"**

 **Mystique nodded, holding her hands up in defeat. "My apologies, I will not bring them up unless I feel it necessary."**

 **"Thanks. Do you see anything you want to get?"**

 **"Perhaps."**

 **Haruhi watched as Mystique walked briskly past her, grabbing something small off the shelf that she couldn't quite see, and proceeded to go to the checkout area. Mystique slipped the object into her pocket after paying, and then urged Haruhi to leave. She was uncomfortable in feeling as though there were several pairs of eyes on her. She was right.**

* * *

A restless night followed an uneventful day, and Mystique's eyes were open before her alarm even rang. When it finally did let loose its annoying clangs, she let it continue for a good while before she slowly raised her hand and slapped it down onto the off button. After letting her hand slide back down, she gradually slipped herself out of bed. Her bare feet barely made a sound against her wooden floor and she stretched her arms far above her head, letting out a loud yawn.

She dragged her feet as she shuffled into her bathroom, ready (however begrudgingly) to start the day. Her morning schedule was nothing particularly glamorous, but she didn't care. A quick shower, brushing her teeth and her hair, and throwing on her clothes for the day; that was all her mornings consisted of. And if she was feeling up to it, _maybe_ a light breakfast. She wasn't much of a morning person, but she wasn't completely opposed to them.

After doing her usual routine, she started down the stairs. Halfway down, she cussed under her breath and turned back up; heading up to grab her cell phone. It was a touch screen, naturally, as she had practically no use for an actual phone. She rarely ever received calls, and most of those were wrong numbers, telemarketers, or scammers anyway. So she mostly used it for games, although she would be bored with them after the first few days of playing them.

With her phone securely in her hands this time, she made her way down the stairs once more and stared down at the screen. She could remember that as a kid she would slide down the banister all the way to the bottom, but walking was fine enough for her now. She went down to the kitchen, actively avoiding anyone who was up and about in the house, and grabbed herself a piece of bread to make herself some toast. She hopped up onto the counter and grabbed a jar of peanut butter, hardly a need to look up, her gaze still fixated on her device.

There she sat, on the counter, and waited for her toast to pop up. She didn't pay much mind to anything happening around her. Persuaded off the counter by staff only after her toast was toasted to just the way she wanted it to be, she grabbed her ingredients and went to the table to make her favorite morning delicacy- peanut butter toast. Once upon a time, she would've used her fingers as a spoon, but she'd much rather have the taste of breakfast than finger-y peanut butter.

She made her way back up to her room, still playing games on her phone boredly with one hand and carrying her breakfast in the other. She put her toast onto her nightstand and flopped down onto her bed. Eventually, she tired of her games and turned the phone off, resting her arms on the bedding and staring up at her ceiling. It crossed her mind that she could simply take a nap and waste the day away, but she felt something nagging at the back of her mind. It seemed to her like she was forgetting something; something important.

Worming herself over to the edge of her bed, she reached down and blindly groped for her planner to see if she'd made any plans for the day. She skimmed through the pages to find that specific day, and her eyes scanned through her own handwriting until her eyes landed on three little words: 'Day with Haruhi.'

"Crap!"

She scrambled off her bed and threw open her dresser drawers, grabbing her phone again and dialing Haruhi's home phone number as she searched for a pair of socks. She mumbled to herself as she listened to it ring and fumbled around for her hairbrush. When someone finally picked up, she pulled on her socks and smiled as if the person on the other side of the line would see her.

"Hello, Haruhi, I am sorry-"

" _Actually, this is Haruhi's father. Can I... Help you?_ "

She paused for a second, dropping her smile, before continuing to get ready. "Oh. Yes, hello, Mr. Fujioka. I am... I know Haruhi from school, and we had established plans to go out around the town today."

" _My Haruhi? Out on the town? Hmm... Ah! You must be that new friend she told me about! Yes, yes, Mystine, was it? No, that's silly... What was it? ...Misty! Wait, Misty? That can't be right, either. Uh... What's your name again?_ "

"Yeah, sir, that would be me," she said, only half listening while trying to be polite. "Anyway, Mr. Fujioka, I am afraid I will be a bit late in picking her up, but I promise I will be there soon."

 _"I'll make sure Haruhi knows, then, what's-your-name. I'll be seeing you then. But seriously, what's your-"_

She hung up without allowing him to finish his sentence and sighed. Shoving her feet into her boots before clopping down the stairs, she began calling for one of the staff members to drive her over to Haruhi's. There were only a few moments of silence before she heard one of the cars pull up. A small smile grew across her face, knowing she could have even the most ridiculous request done with a snap of her fingers.

She hopped out of the car almost the instant it stopped, and she looked around to try and find which apartment was Haruhi's- repeating the number '203' to herself over and over until she found the room she was looking for. With three knocks and some patience, she found herself face to face with Haruhi.

"Are you... Ready?" she asked. peeking behind Haruhi, spying her father standing a bit further away in the room and watching the two of them.

"Sure, let's go. Where were you thinking of heading to?" Haruhi either didn't notice her father's hovering or just didn't care.

"Oh, you know... Around. I was thinking maybe we could go to a nearby park or a playground."

"Really? You want to go to a playground?"

"Never mind, just come on, we have a lot of daylight to burn."

They descended the stairs after a quick goodbye to Haruhi's father and began walking into town.

Haruhi showed her around a few places, introducing her to the different things she liked to do and/or go to. Mystique nodded along, not really seeing anything of much interest until they came upon a little bookshop. It was quaint, but she found it quite charming and was drawn to it. She convinced Haruhi to go in with her and started a conversation about books and reading. Neither one of them paid much attention to the small group of people already shopping around in the store, nor to any others who happened to come in. The two were completely immersed in each others company.

"You like to read, right? What about that book I saw you reading in the club? Maybe we could find something like that in here." Mystique asked, picking up a book and skimming through a couple of pages.

"Book..? Oh, that was just for my literature class. I have to read a book and write an essay over it in a couple of weeks. I was getting a head start on it so I could focus on other things," she explained, looking around at the bookcases.

"I see, I see. Then forget about that book, what kinds of books do you like to read for fun?"

"I don't know," Haruhi said, sighing as she pulled a book off a shelf. "I mean, I barely have any time to just sit down with a book, even if it is a good one. I have too much stuff to study, y'know? It's not like I don't like them, it's just that I've got to focus on my textbooks rather than make-believe stories."

Mystique shook her head and flipped open another book, looking over the pages. "I can respect that, but I prefer it the other way around. Studying is nice enough for, well, studying, but I like to live vicariously through those fantasy worlds. I would much rather live in the what these authors create than I would here. Wasting away the majority of my life in schools and then in the workforce... You can do anything you want to in a book, though. It is funny, you know? Words are limited to the pages on which they are written, yet they still hold more freedom than the real world."

Mystique's face held a small smile on it, and she didn't notice the lingering eyes of her friend on her. Haruhi couldn't help but laugh a bit after a few seconds, putting the book back on the shelf after finding it less than interesting. "Is that why you've always got your head in the clouds?"

"My head is not _always_ in the clouds," she argued, still flipping through pages absentmindedly, occasionally looking up and around at the other people in the shop. She could almost swear she felt eyes on her, and it was beginning to make her uncomfortable.

"Oh, come on, I see you around the school. You've always got your nose in some book. Even in the club, you're usually reading before and after visiting. Sometimes during."

Mystique felt her face grow a bit warm and she silently closed the book in her hands, heading to the counter and purchasing it. She tied the handles of the bag around her wrist, thanking the cashier before heading back to Haruhi.

"Well... Never mind all that." A smile began to form on her lips. "Would you like to do something fun before we leave?"

Haruhi just blinked and shrugged. "Well, that would depend, I guess. What did you have in mind?"

Mystique brought her finger to her lips with a slight grin, grabbing Haruhi by the wrist and pulling her to the mystery section of the store. She grabbed a few books and started flipping them around so the titles were facing the shelves.

"Mystique, I'm not sure you should be doing-"

"Oh, come on, Haruhi, please? They are mystery books anyway. What could be the harm? This way every book really _is_ a mystery."

"Well..." Haruhi was unsure of what to do, and only stood back and watched Mystique do what she was doing.

After she was finished she stood back and gave Haruhi such a proud smile that she couldn't find the heart to say anything about it. It seemed like she was having fun, and Haruhi didn't want to ruin it for her. But she didn't want to get in trouble, so she grabbed Mystique by the wrist and pulled her towards the exit of the store, not paying any mind to the other patrons in the small shop.

"Why don't we go find something else to do now? I'm kind of over the books right now."

Mystique nodded and allowed Haruhi to lead her to wherever she wanted to go, figuring it was Haruhi's turn to choose a location since she had dragged her to the bookstore. Haruhi brought her to the supermarket, looking around to see if there was anything on sale. Mystique was averse to this at first, but kept it to herself, wanting to give it a chance.

"So, the supermarket, huh?"

"Yeah. It's a pretty nice place, right? They've _always_ got some sort of sale going on. Maybe the two of us could find something to make for dinner together when we go back to the house," Haruhi suggested, picking up some produce to compare, already thinking of dinner options. "I mean, we've got plenty of time and we don't have to buy it all right now, but we could figure out what we want based off of what they have and then come back later before we head back to my place for dinner."

Mystique nodded quietly, looking at a few packages herself. "So, this is your idea of fun. I guess you like to cook, then? What kinds of things do you like to make?"

"Oh, pretty much everything. My mom used to make the best dishes for me and my dad. Now I do the cooking, and I like to have fun with it like she did. It's really relaxing, and it's really fulfilling when they come out well."

"Oh, that's... Nice." Mystique looked at Haruhi through the corner of her eyes before looking back down to the meat in her hands. "I've never cooked anything more complicated than a scrambled egg before. But, I'd like to try to help you out. If that would be alright, that is."

"Sure. Do you have anything in mind for dinner? Any favorites?" Haruhi kept her eyes on the items in front of her, comparing prices in the back of her mind.

"Not really. But, if I had to choose something? I've always wanted to try... Oh, what was it? A pork cutlet bowl, I believe."

"...A pork cutlet bowl?" Haruhi looked at her with a slightly incredulous expression.

Mystique's cheeks became a bit flushed and she picked up another item, pretending to find it rather interesting. "What? Do you not like them? We can make something else if you-"

"No, no, I like them well enough. It's just that I thought you'd want something a bit more... fancy. You know, for your rich and refined tastes or whatever."

Mystique gave a crooked smile and a slight laugh, looking at her friend. "What did you expect me to ask for? A large blue lobster served with a side of escargot and caviar?"

Haruhi began to crack a smile as well and shrugged, scratching the back of her head. "Well, yeah, actually, something like that. Doesn't it sound like something someone at that rich kid school would ask for?"

"Ah, I don't blame you. Pretty much everything I've ever eaten has been of the finest quality. I mean, seriously, some of the food is so expensive for only getting a small amount of it. A small cube of meat with a leaf of something to garnish it. Everybody knows it's not filling but you pretend it is because that's what you're supposed to do..."

"Anyway, if we're making pork cutlets, you'll definitely be full when I'm done making it." Haruhi smiled and held up a couple of pork meat packets that happened to be on sale. "You won't get a small portion from me. Not with these prices."

Mystique nodded and began to walk along the meat aisle slowly, listening around for some hushed voices she could almost pick up, feeling the same feeling she had had earlier in the bookstore. She couldn't see much out of place except for the split second she thought she saw a head of blond hair dash into another aisle.

"Mystique?"

Mystique turned her head slightly to Haruhi while keeping her eyes in the direction she was looking at. "Hmm?"

"Now that we know what we're going to have later, we should go out and continue to go around town. We've been out for a total of maybe twenty minutes."

"Yeah.." mumbled Mystique, finally turning fully to Haruhi when nothing else caught her eye. "What were you thinking of doing?"

"Well, if you still wanted to go to a park like you mentioned earlier, we could go there at the end of the day before we go to my place. It doesn't have a playground or anything, but it's got trees and grass and benches."

Mystique gave a brief nod and the two headed out of the store. Haruhi was taking mental notes about the various foods on sale for later; Mystique was keeping an eye out for whoever was following them. She had an idea of who it could be, but she wanted to make sure before jumping the gun. Not noticing the lack of attention from Mystique, Haruhi brought her into another store, albeit much smaller than the supermarket.

"Why don't we take a look around and see if there's anything interesting here? It may not be all that pricey, expensive stuff you rich people get, but there's some good stuff here, usually."

"If you say so."

Mystique looked around at the various objects and knick knacks lining the shelves of the aisles, Haruhi walking beside her and skimming her eyes over the same shelves in faint disinterest. The shelves had no backs to them, so the items and walkways on the other side were visible. Mystique paused in front of one shelf to look at a small gemstone dolphin that happened to see- but it wasn't the only thing that caught her eye. On the other side of the shelf, she caught a glimpse of a figure, which darted quickly out of sight. Her eyes narrowed as she watched for the figure to return before she began to walk the aisle again, soon catching up to Haruhi who hadn't noticed a single thing.

"Find anything you like?" Haruhi asked, looking up from some little trinket in her hand.

"Not yet. Although there are quite a few interesting things around here in this shop."

"Oh yeah? You should get something before we go, then. I mean, it might not be fancy or whatever, but some of this stuff is kind of neat."

"You know, not everyone who comes from a wealthy background is as materialistic as you seem to imagine," Mystique responded, picking up a snowglobe and shaking it vigorously with both hands. "Granted, many definitely are. But, personally, I do not care whether an object is one of a kind or mass produced. Not everything I fancy is... Fancy."

She lifted up the globe and looked at Haruhi through it, watching the snow dance around the image of her friend. "Have you found anything you like?"

Haruhi shook her head and looked back to the shelves. "Not really."

Mystique put down the globe and paused, grabbing a small toy crown off one of the shelves. "Haruhi, who do I remind you of?" she asked, putting the crown on her head and making a dramatic pose. Haruhi began to laugh, knowing she was poking fun at Tamaki, and shook her head slightly.

"You're really having fun, aren't you?"

"That was the point of coming here, yes," Mystique answered, placing the crown back onto a shelf. "Are you not?"

"Oh, no, I didn't mean that. I just never thought that this would be your kind of thing, that's all."

Mystique shrugged slightly and began looking alongside Haruhi as they slipped into another aisle in silence. As they were browsing absentmindedly, she again began to feel eyes watching her. Her patience began to run thin and she gripped her fists tightly, flashing glances behind her and catching a glimpse of various shadows. They disappeared in a flash. But they were soon replaced by another head of hair that was trying to sneakily see if she was still looking, which she was. Each time she felt the hairs stand on the back of her neck, her teeth slowly began grinding.

"Haruhi."

Haruhi turned her head to the side slightly but kept her eyes on the shelves. "Yeah?"

"Do you ever feel... Watched?"

"...Why?"

Mystique meerly kept her nonchalant disposition as she walked back over to Haruhi.

"Oh, no reason in particular. I was just wondering. Let us change the subject. The host club, for instance. They are an integral part of your school lifestyle now, and they will be until you can pay back that little debt of yours. You must have some feelings towards them by now."

Haruhi put a finger to her chin as she thought about the answer, but couldn't think of any definitive answers. "I mean, not to be rude, but they can be the poster children for ignorant rich people sometimes."

Covering a small snicker of amusement behind her hand, Mystique shook her head. "Oh, but you are thinking of them as a collective. I mean individually. As in... How you think of Tamaki by himself. Or Kyoya."

"I don't know, I guess... My answer is the same. I haven't had much time with them one on one. They are a club, after all. And even counting club hours, I haven't really gotten to know them. That's like me asking you the same thing."

"Alright, alright, I suppose I can see where you are coming from... Let me ask you one more thing: If you fulfilled your debt, would you still come back the next day?"

There was a moment of silence between the two, Mystique slowly looking at the ceiling with baited breath before turning to Haruhi again. Haruhi was staring at her, causing her to look back up to avoid eye contact.

"To be honest, I don't think I would. If I pay off my debt, they'd have no reason to keep me as a host. And I'm definitely not going to be one of their guests. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with it, it's just not my thing, you know? Anyway, that's enough about them. I thought you wanted to hang out without the club. If that's the case, what's the point of bringing them up every minute?"

Mystique nodded, holding her hands up in defeat. "My apologies, I will not bring them up unless I feel it necessary."

"Thanks. Do you see anything you want to get?"

"Perhaps."

Haruhi watched as Mystique walked briskly past her, grabbing something small off the shelf that she couldn't quite see, and proceeded to go to the checkout area. Mystique slipped the object into her pocket after paying, and then urged Haruhi to leave. She was uncomfortable in feeling as though there were several pairs of eyes on her. She was right.


	13. Out on the Town Part 2

Two girls, both diametrically opposite in wealth and social status, find themselves enjoying and finding comfort in each others company. One is naturally gifted at social events, but desires to be alone. The other finds great difficulty around large numbers of people, but desires to spend time with one very much unlike her. Both are strangers to each others lifestyle. There is a quiet, somber contentment between them. Yet, there was a dissonance that sprang up every so often as the two traversed the town.

In every location, Mystique would just be beginning to relax and enjoy herself around Haruhi. In the supermarket, as they walked along the streets, simply talking or walking in a comfortable silence, Mystique would eventually begin to feel eyes on her. She began to feel a twinge of paranoia as time went on. This twinge became more aggressive with each passing minute. Her eyes began to dart behind her, beside her, and she edged ever so slightly closer to Haruhi with every few steps. Haruhi, evidently, felt and noticed nothing.

As they happened upon an open, grassy area, Mystique suddenly grabbed Haruhi's hand and pulled her along, calling for her to follow. Taken aback by the sudden change of pace, Haruhi quickened her steps and ran with Mystique towards a cluster of trees across the clearing. Haruhi soon began to lose her breath, but Mystique only quickened her pace, fearful that they may still be followed. As soon as they broke through the line of leaves and branches, she hooked a quick and sudden left.

"What the hell are you-"

Mystique shushed her friend and hid behind a trunk, pulling her closer and looking carefully past the foliage. It took a fraction of a moment for her to hear branches start moving nearby. She held her breath, Haruhi looking at her in confusion, about to ask what was going on. But the look Mystique gave her shut her up instantly. Her eyes were cold, no longer the fragile robin eggs they had been before, her gaze frigid and unmoving. Her movements were much more calculated. And for the first time, Haruhi felt as though she was looking at the girl of rumor- someone that could be seen as terrifying.

"C'mon, boss, I think they went this way."

"No, no, I think they went-"

"Shh! Or we're gonna get caught, you guys-"

"I think Takashi and I will just wait here in case they come back out."

A scowl drew itself across Mystiques face, but her shoulders fell into a more relaxed position. She recognized those voices. The Host Club came to rear their heads into her day out with Haruhi. The brunette could not hear the hushed voices in the distance, which were steadily getting farther and farther away, in part was too concerned with her friend's change in demeanor as well as she would not have know what to listen for.

"Let's go. Quietly."

Mystique began to walk deeper into the mass of greenery, hesitantly followed by Haruhi.

"Mystique, I-"

A soft glare, followed by a softer voiced Haruhi.

"Mystique... What's going on? This isn't normal, you know."

"How well do you know this area? Are there any homes nearby?"

"Homes? Well, I mean, I think there's a cabin nearby, but, Mystique, I don't-"

"Show me. I can explain there. Please."

She nearly turned around and walked away again, but there was something about the look on her face that led her to begin taking steps ahead. There were scarcely any words spoken, apart from the few occasions where Mystique made them pause and listen for voices or footsteps. After a minute or so, they happened upon a slightly run down cabin. There were two floors, but the roof was caved in on the left side. The wood was covered in moss. Several windows were shattered and coated in a thick film of dust. Mystique made no hesitations before kicking the door open and slipping inside, the bottom hinge breaking off. Haruhi followed.

Once the door was securely closed, Mystique let out a sigh and leaned against the frame, giving a small, apologetic smile. Her eyes softened once again.

"I apologize for the way I have acted. Do you remember when I asked you earlier if you felt as though we were being watched? As it turns out, there was a reason. It seems as though we have been followed for the majority of the afternoon."

"Wait a minute, you mean some creepy weirdos have been watching us? Why don't we call the police or something? What are we doing all the way out in the middle of nowhere? If they find us, they could-"

"Haruhi, I would never endanger you on purpose. Our pursuers are more or less harmless. That host club," she ground her teeth together at the mention, "seems to have taken it upon themselves to spy on our little outing."

Haruhi was incredulous.

"Wait, they just followed us around all day? What the hell? I'm going to give them a piece of my mind, open the door!"

Mystique shook her head.

"You know, I was thinking we could have a little fun instead. Give them a little incentive to never repeat this kind of thing again."

Haruhi raised an eyebrow, "I'd rather just give them a piece of my mind. But, let's hear it."

Meanwhile, the unwanted group of followers were heading ever farther away, arguing amongst themselves every few minutes.

"Boss, are you sure we went the right way? We've been walking for, like, half an hour already." Hikaru looked back at the trail they had been following. "If they were onto us, would they really take a path?"

Tamaki scoffed and flipped a bit of hair away from his eyes. "Onto us? She was merely being spontaneous! There's no way she could have known we were following her. It may have been close once or twice, but she doesn't have a clue! I'm sure of it."

"Shh! Boss, if you don't shut up, they're gonna hear you all the way across the woods," Kaoru warned, looking around with his brother. "But Hikaru's right, my feet are killing me. I think we should head the other direction."

"No, boys, trust me. You see, she's smart, and she knows we're smart, too. So she'd be _expecting_ us to think she wouldn't go off in the same direction of a path. So she thought we would go off in the opposite direction, thinking that's what she would do. But she really just went with the path."

"Boss, she doesn't think you're smart," the twins countered. "And that doesn't make any sense."

"Tamaki," Kyoya interrupted. "Perhaps she would have been smart enough to think along your... certain line of logic, and would have countered it. We most likely would have encountered them by now if they went this direction, wouldn't you agree?"

The group paused. Tamaki took a second to look back at the faces of his friends before he nodded and began marching in the opposite direction, quickening his pace so as to take the lead again. The three that followed merely rolled their eyes and began to wonder if they should have just waited at the edge of tree line with Honey and Mori. The twins weren't about to give up on possibly being the ones to spot the girls, and Kyoya was the only one who had the knowledge of the area to navigate.

But as they began to traverse in the correct direction, a piercing scream seemed to make the very earth shake beneath them. The boys broke out into a sprint, not a one of them taking a moment to look at each other. They happened upon a cabin, the foundation itself seeming to fall apart, and it seemed more like a shack to the wealthy club members. It took the breath from a couple of the members as they heard another scream coming from inside, and two figures emerged from the woods, Honey and Mori.

"We heard screaming! Are Haru-chan and Misty-chan alright?"

Tamaki didn't answer, running once more to the door, slamming into it. It opened easily, and as the top hinge came loose, was sent crashing to the ground with Tamaki on top.

"Haruhi!" He called out, scrambling to his feet as the other hosts soon came up behind him. "Mystique! Where are you?"

The twins clamped their hands over Tamaki's mouth as they heard a creaking coming from a nearby room. Honey and Mori, being the martial arts experts of the group, looked at each other and nodded. They slowly and carefully made their way over to the door to the room, slipping inside. There was a loud thudding sound, and the rest of the members made their way over to the doorway. They peered in, finding Honey on the floor- more specifically in the arms of someone else who happened to be on the floor.

"Misty-chan!"

Tamaki ran in and knelt next to them, the other hosts staying near the door.

"Haruhi- where is she? Where is Haruhi?"

The girl in front of him was practically in tears. "I... I don't know! We were just about to head back when this- this-"

"What? When what?" He grabbed her shoulders, pulling her up a bit. "What happened to her?"

"This guy just came in and started saying really weird things and threatening us, and... And then he just grabbed me and I panicked so I kicked him and then he threw me down- the next thing I knew, the guy was gone and Haruhi was gone and- and I think that he's still in here somewhere."

"What did he look like?"

"I... I don't know, I couldn't see him clearly. He moved so fast..."

Tamaki began to breathe unevenly and stood, his hair covering his eyes and his hands tightening into fists.

"Boys. The game is over."

"Boss?"

"Hikaru. Kaoru. I want you to check the rest of this floor. Honey, Kyoya, you and I will check if there's a basement. If not, we'll head upstairs, otherwise whoever finishes first will do the same. Mori, I want you to stay here with Mystique. Protect her in case that _bastard_ comes back to this room."

The teams nodded and headed out, serious expressions filling the space. It was just Mystique and Mori left in the room. She looked up at him from her position on the floor, him returning the gaze with silence. He moved to the door, blocking the way in case the mysterious man were to return. It was odd for her to see him without his smaller cousin next to him.

Mystique slowly brought herself to her feet, eyeing him carefully until she made her way to the window, opening it as slowly as she could and flinching as she heard a creak behind her. She turned, coming face-to chest with the gentle giant. Her eyes followed the body upwards to meet the dark eyes staring down at her.

"I-I was just- Mori!"

She was lifted into the air and spun behind him, being set down for him to close the window again.

"Bad idea. Easy entrance."

Mystique shook her head and reached for the window.

"Good idea, easy exit!"

Mori grabbed her again, this time hoisting her over his shoulder and bringing her to the far corner of the room. He set her down into a sitting position.

"Stay."

A glare was met with difficult to read intensity, and Mori turned his back to her, making sure to watch the window now too. There came a sound from outside, and he went to peer through the window. When he found nothing on the other side of the glass, he turned to look back at Mystique- only to find her gone and the door slamming shut. He backed up and ran forward with all his might. Once. Twice. Three times. The frame splintered apart as he rammed his body against it. When he finally burst through, Mystique was nowhere to be seen.

"Tamaki, are you sure it is wise not to call in-"

"No, Kyoya, we don't need your men. We can find Haruhi, and we can serve this guy justice, on our own! It would take far too long for us to wait," the princely host had lost his normally sporadic composure and, for once, held a very serious tone to his voice.

"Tama-chan, do you think Haru-chan is okay?"

"Yes, Honey-sempai. She's going to be fine- I can feel it."

They found the door to the basement and peered down the dark stairwell.

"I'll go first. For Haruhi," Tamaki grabbed onto the railing and began heading down, each step meticulously taken so as not to make a single creak.

Honey followed suit, one hand on the railing and the other ready to defend his friends from an attacker. Kyoya was the last to plunge into the gallows. Tamaki gropped the wall in search of a light switch and soon there was a dim yellow blanket washed over the room. Stone floors and concrete walls now surrounded them. There were no decorations. Only an empty room with empty, dusty, cobweb laden shelves lining one wall, and a small door to one side.

"There's... Nothing here. There's nothing here!" Tamaki exclaimed in defeat. He had hoped to find his precious daughter safe and sound.

"Then shall we check behind that door?" Kyoya pointed, to which Tamaki nodded briskly and hurried over.

"Okay... One... Two... Three!" His foot flew into the door full force. It budged, but still needed a bit more force.

"Tamaki, at least attempt the door handle first."

Slightly embarrassed, the tall blonde grabbed the handle and pushed against the door. It was stuck at first, but with effort, he was able to push into the room on the other side. The others followed him in, looking around at their surroundings, until the door slammed shut behind them again.

"What the- let us out!" Tamaki grabbed the door handle again, only for it to fall off into his hands.

"What do we do now, Tama-chan?"

"Help me get the door open!"

"What's going on?" The twins ran in from another nearby room they had been searching. "Mori-sempai?"

Mori, turned to the room he had come from before he walked over to them. "Mystique."

Hikaru shared a look with Kaoru, realizing that something must have happened. They turned and pushed open another door, waving Mori over to join them. "Come on, let's finish our search on this floor and we'll see if we can find them."

The three opened several doors, peering in and searching around quickly before moving onto the next ones. But each was just as empty as the next. This continued until they all stood in front of an opened door- the one that led to the basement. They could hear thumping coming from down below. Hikaru stepped down onto the first step cautiously, looking back at his brother and Mori. There was another loud thud coming from upstairs, sending everyone's gaze to the ceiling.

"...Mori-sempai, Kaoru and I can check the basement for Tamaki and the others. You check out upstairs," Hikaru said, lowering his voice.

Kaoru followed his brother into the already lit basement, turning to Mori as well, "We'll join you upstairs when we find them."

Mori nodded and ran up the stairs that lead to the top floor. It was slightly damp, but there was light showing through from the hole on the roof. He carefully stepped over several planks of wood that littered the floor in front of him, and he looked around. Every step he took made the floor creak beneath him. He paused, listening carefully. Another thud sounded from a nearby room, causing Mori to run to the source. The door was hardly an obstacle. On the other side, he found Mystique lying in a corner, facing the wall.

He went to her, pulling her around to face him, seeing a terrified look in her eyes. She grabbed onto his arms as he helped her up, nearly trembling. As soon as she was on her feet, she made a bolt for the door, looking around and running to another room. She reached out one of her hands, and just as she was about to grab one of the door handles, strong arms wrapped themselves around her waist, lifting her into the air. He began to bring her to the stairs, against her loud protests. As they approached the steps, he swooped her up into a sort of bridal-style hold and began to descend.

"No! Mori, Mori let me down!" Mystique struggled against the strength of his arms and pushed against his chest. "Mori, I _need_ you to trust me, I have to find Haruhi!"

Mori grunted a soft "no" in response, making Mystique sigh and fall limp in his arms.

"Mori, I know exactly where she is. Let me down so I can get her out."

Mori stopped in his tracks and looked down at the girl in his arms. There was no sign of the fragile, scared girl she had appeared as when he found her hardly a moment ago. She held scarcely an emotion on her face aside from boredom. She slid herself away, turning on her heel and walking over to the room, pushing open the door and walking towards a closet. Once she opened it, two figures emerged- Haruhi, who stepped out immediately, nodding to Mori, and Nekozowa, who remained in the safety of the dark closet until Mystique pulled him out.

"Mori, go find the boys, please. Or call them or text them, I don't care. But they deserve to know Haruhi is safe."

The girls walked to Mori's side, and Mystique rested her hand on his arm for a second, before they all headed to the staircase. Mori descended first, going off to find the others and bring them back. Hikaru and Kaoru had spent the past few minutes helping Tamaki, Kyoya, and Honey get free from a small storeroom in the basement, and happened to be coming up from the basement at that moment. As they came to the top and laid eyes on the girls, several of the boys attached themselves to Haruhi with a series of hugs. Nekozawa stood at the top of the stairs, watching in amusement.

"I'm fine, you guys," Haruhi mumbled, pushing away Tamaki and the twins. Honey had himself latched around her waist, not willing to budge. "There wasn't really any danger."

"Oh, you sweet, poor little Haruhi... That's right, there's no danger because Daddy will protect you." Tamaki rubbed his cheek against hers affectionately, making her scoff and push him away harder.

"No, senpai, I mean there was never any danger. We made the whole thing up."

All of the hosts, except Mori and Kyoya, looked at her with confusion in their eyes. Mystique sighed softly, crossing her arms.

"I knew we were being followed. I saw your blonde crown of hair in that little store, but I didn't know it was you guys until I heard the twin clowns of crime over there arguing after we ran into the trees," she scolded, thumping the twins and Tamaki on the back of their heads. She then pointed over to the stairs. "So I called Umehito and he agreed to help us stage a kidnapping to get back at you."

"It serves you guys right," Haruhi agreed. "What you did was just creepy, wrong, and unnecessary."

"So that means you get to scare us half to death?" Tamaki shot back, clearly upset. "We thought something really bad happened to you!"

"Yes! Up until I realized it was just you morons, I thought something bad could happen too! You know that panicked feeling you had when you didn't know where Haruhi was? Yeah, that's the kind of feeling you give someone when you follow them around without consent, you _idiot!_ "

Silence.

Mystique took a deep breath.

"Of course, I do not blame you, Honey, or you, Mori. I know it was not your idea, so I apologize for making you go through that. You three, though," she glared at Tamaki and the twins, "you deserved every second."

"What about Kyoya?" Hikaru demanded.

"Yeah, he agreed to it too!" added Kaoru, pointing at him.

"I would smack him too, but he's all the way over there. Unless you want me to smack the rest of you twice, I suggest you shut your traps and deal with it."

Tamaki and the twins began to cower behind Haruhi. Mystique looked around at the faces of all the hosts and made eye contact with Nekozawa, who was smiling. She began to mirror that smile. The smile turned to stifled giggles, which then turned into laughter. The hosts shared glances amongst themselves. No words were spoken by them, but Mystique bent over in laughter until she slowly came to a stop, opening her eyes as her face fell from amused to dull.

"I suggest that you refrain from engaging in this activity again. You were lucky to get off this easily. Umehito," she looked at the cloaked figure who had finally came down the stairs. "Let's bring Haruhi home."

Mystique, Nekozawa, and Haruhi walked through the opening, walking overtop of the fallen door, and soon disappeared into the trees.


End file.
